Divisions emerged at the weekend in a Shia coalition that appears to have swept the vote in the January 30 elections, with the two main parties each putting forward a candidate for Iraq prime minister.

Members of the Islamic Dawa party announced over the weekend that their leader, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, would be a candidate for prime minister, quelling earlier reports that he preferred to remain in his current position as one of the country's two vice-presidents.