Kurds Undecided on Iraq Political Alliance -- Leader

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050225/ts_nm/iraq_kurds_dc&cid=564&ncid=1480


"No decision has been made," he told Reuters Television when asked if the Kurds were planning to ally with the Islamist Shi'ite politician Ibrahim al-Jaafari or secular Shi'ite Iyad Allawi, who is fighting to keep his job as prime minister.


Iraqi politicians are engaged in intense post-election horse-trading for the top positions in the next government and the heads of ministries, negotiations complicated by delicate ethnic and sectarian issues.


The Kurdish coalition is in a strong bargaining position after coming second in last month's ballot, with 25 percent of the vote giving it 75 seats in the 275-seat national assembly.


Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), one of the two main parties in the Kurdish coalition, said the Kurds would seek important posts in the new government.


He was diplomatic but firm on the sensitive issue of oil-rich Kirkuk, the most ethnically diverse and hotly contested city in the country.