April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Jawad al-Maliki, deputy leader of a Shiite Muslim religious party, was confirmed as the sole nominee to become prime minister in Iraq's first permanent government since the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

The leaders of the seven political parties that form the United Iraqi Alliance met today ``and during that meeting it was agreed that Dr. al-Maliki would be the candidate,'' an alliance spokesman, Haytham al-Husseini, said in a telephone interview from the capital, Baghdad.

Al-Maliki would succeed Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al- Jaafari if the selection is approved by the three-person Presidential Council and by parliament. Al-Jaafari yesterday withdrew his bid for a second term, thereby breaking a four- month deadlock on the formation of a new government.

``Al-Maliki is just an individual who happens not to be Jaafari, and therefore he's acceptable to Kurds and Sunnis,'' said Peter Khalil, who was director of national security policy for the U.S.-led occupation administration known as the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Most members of al-Jaafari's Dawa party were exiled in neighboring Iran during Hussein's rule, while al-Maliki lived in Syria, according to al-Husseini.

`Big Role'

Al-Maliki ``has played a big role in the political process'' and was deputy speaker during Ayad Allawi's interim government, al-Husseini said.

The spokesman declined to say how many votes al-Maliki received. Agence France-Presse reported that six out of seven leaders backed him.

``If he's accepted by the other major blocs of parliament, we hope to see movement on the government formation in the coming days,'' U.S. National Security Council spokesman Fred Jones said in Washington.

U.S. political and military leaders have urged Iraqi politicians for more than two months to agree on a government so the country can attempt to unify and quell violence.

Sunni Muslim, Kurdish and secular leaders had rejected al- Jaafari, criticizing him for failing to curb violence and unite Iraq's diverse religious and ethnic groups. The U.S. also pushed for him to step aside. Moqtada al-Sadr, an anti-U.S. cleric whose Mahdi Army militia staged two uprisings against coalition forces in 2004, has been al-Jaafari's main supporter.

``I think he's going to be well received by the others as well,'' al-Husseini said, when asked how other lawmakers would feel about al-Maliki's nomination.

Tariq al-Hashemi, head of the largest Sunni Arab political coalition, said he would support al-Maliki, the New York Times reported. ``We don't have many options, and we would like to push the political process forward,'' he said.

Lawmakers to Meet

Parliament is set to convene tomorrow, for the second time since the December election.

``We are looking forward to the session,'' Al-Husseini said. ``The session might witness the approval of many names to handle posts in the new government.''

He said that Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, is likely to continue as president and that Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni, ``has big chances of being named speaker'' of the legislature.

Al-Maliki is ``very much an unknown quantity,'' said Khalil, who is now a Middle East analyst at the New York-based Eurasia Group, which does political risk consulting. ``There's a real fear now that as an inexperienced leader he has to bring together all these different ethnic and sectarian political groups, form a unity government, agree on ministerial portfolios and then move ahead and actually govern.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 21, 2006 16:59 EDT