Ibrahim al-Jaafari named new Iraqi prime minister Amit Patel at 9:01 AM ET
[JURIST] Iraq's new presidential council [JURIST report], formally sworn-in on Thursday, has named Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari [Wikipedia profile] as interim prime minister replacing outgoing interim PM Iyad Allawi [JURIST news archive]. The long-awaited announcement gives Iraq [JURIST news archive] its first democratically elected government. Al-Jaafari now has two weeks to name a cabinet, which has seen ongoing negotiations. The primary task of the interim government is to draft a permanent constitution. If a new constitution is approved, elections for a permanent government will take place in December. AP has more.
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