Ahmed Chalabi believes he has votes to become Iraqi premier

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (AFP) - Controversial Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi said Sunday he believes he has the votes to become the war-torn country's new prime minister.
Chalabi, once supported by the United States only to fall from favor, is part of the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) list that won 140 seats of the 275-member national assembly in the January 30 elections.
"I believe I have a majority of the (UIA) votes on my side right now" to become the new government's prime minister, Chalabi told ABC television.
The former exile remained cautious, however, saying the choice of premier "will be decided by the parliamentary bloc," which he did not want to "second guess."
On Tuesday, sources in the Shiite coalition said it had chosen interim vice president and Dawa party leader Ibrahim Jaafari as its candidate for prime minister.
Chalabi said he was ready to cooperate if he were not picked to lead the government.
"We want to change the way Iraq is governed," he said. "It will no longer be the government of a leader with everybody else not counting very much."
"We want to have a cabinet form of executive authority in Iraq and I am perfectly willing to cooperate, as indeed are my other friends and colleagues who are competing for the job of prime minister, with any prime minister that will come out for the service of ... the country."
Chalabi, a leading figure of the exiled opposition to Saddam Hussein before the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, fell out of favor with his US backers over suspicion of leaking intelligence to Iran.
But Chalabi told ABC that he remained a "friend" of the United States and that "dialogue has resumed with the United States representative in Iraq."
"It was restored after the election," he said.
"I'm a friend of the United States, and I continue to be a friend of the United States," Chalabi said.
"And I am grateful, as are most Iraqis, to the American people for helping liberate Iraq and also the men and women of the United States Armed Forces in Iraq, who have done a great job in helping us have elections, and also for the leadership of President Bush."

02/20/2005 20:13 GMT - AFP