IRAQ: Iraq will get its first democratically elected president today if the veteran Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani is approved by the national assembly.
The selection of Mr Talabani along with two vice-presidents - one Shia and one Sunni Arab - will be seen as an important if overdue next step towards forming a government in Iraq.
But more than nine weeks after the elections, wrangling between the main Shia and Kurdish blocs over the make-up of a coalition of "national unity" means a final deal remains elusive. Officials close to the talks said disputes were still raging over key government posts, particularly the coveted oil and defence ministries.
Insisting that they want a real national unity government, the Kurds have been also been pushing Sunni Arabs, many of whom stayed away from the polls, as well as the interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, to agree to join the next administration.
Meanwhile, frustration is growing among ordinary Iraqis who braved suicide bombs and threats from militants to register their vote.
"There is concern that, the longer the haggling goes on, the more the insurgents will take heart," said Safia al-Suheil, a prominent political activist. "They [ the politicians] really must shoulder their responsibilities and get on with it."
On paper the Iraqi presidency is a largely ceremonial post; executive power rests mainly with the prime minister. Yet the presence in Baghdad of Mr Talabani, the 72-year-old leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and one of Iraq's most powerful men, will prove influential.
The first task of his three-person presidency council will be to agree on a prime minister. The favourite is Ibrahim al-Jaaferi, the candidate of the Shia-led alliance which came first in January's landmark elections and with whom the Kurdish bloc, led by Mr Talabani, plans to enter a coalition.
According to the interim law, Mr Jaaferi will have two weeks to form a government, which must be approved by a two-thirds vote in parliament.
If he cannot, then the choice of another prime minister falls to the 275-seat national assembly, who must ratify the decision, again by a two-thirds majority.
Guerrillas and criminal gangs have killed 6,000 Iraqi civilians over the past two years and wounded 16,000, according to the first comprehensive government estimate of the toll from the insurgency.
"These people in the insurgency are involved in looting, terrorism, killing, kidnapping, drug-dealing, beheading and all that," human rights minister Bakhtiar Amin said. - (Guardian Service, Reuters)