Senior members of Iraq's main Shi'ite party have nominated the son of
former party leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim to succeed his father, who died
last week.
The main decision-making body of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council
agreed Monday to select Ammar al-Hakim as its new leader. The party's
wider advisory council must approve the nomination before it takes
effect.
Ammar al-Hakim has been groomed to take over the party leadership for
some time. The elder al-Hakim died last Wednesday in Tehran, where he
had been receiving treatment for lung cancer. He was buried Saturday in
the Iraqi Shi'ite holy city of Najaf.
The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council faces strong competition from other
Shi'ite parties in parliamentary elections scheduled for January.
The Council scrapped an alliance with Iraq's Shi'ite Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki and his Dawa Party earlier this month, and formed a new
Shi'ite coalition to contest the vote.