Iraq's parties agree on presidency council

BAGHDAD, April 5 (UPI) -- The main Shiite and Kurdish political parties in Iraq agreed in a Tuesday meeting of the new national assembly to appoint a president and two vice presidents.

Hussein al-Shahristani, a vice speaker of the Iraqi assembly, said the parties agreed to name Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader, as president; Adel Abdul Mahdi, a prominent Shiite Arab politician, as vice president; and Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar, the Sunni Arab president of the interim government, as the other vice president, the New York Times.reported

The agreement to name the three officials to make up the presidency council breaks a two-month deadlock that existed since the Jan. 30 election.

The presidency council will have two weeks from their appointment to name a prime minister, who will, in turn, appoint a Cabinet. The new government would then have to be approved by a majority vote of the national assembly.