Iraq ex-PM Jaafari wins referendum
A radical Shia cleric's supporters have rejected the main candidates for prime minister, preferring an ex-premier under whom Iraq's sectarian conflict erupted, the results of an unofficial ballot showed yesterday.
Former prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari garnered nearly a quarter of the votes in the two-day referendum organised by powerful anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
The poll has no legal standing and its results come as sitting Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and ex-premier Iyad Allawi battle to form a government following Iraq's general election last month.
Neither leader holds enough seats to claim a parliamentary majority.
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