The Iraqi parliament picked Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani (search) as the country's new interim president Wednesday, reaching out to the nation's long-repressed Kurdish minority and bringing the country closer to its first democratically elected government in 50 years.
Ousted members of the country's former regime � including toppled leader Saddam Hussein � watched the event on television in their prison cells, Human Rights Minister Bakhtiyar Amin told Al-Arabiya television.
The announcement that Talabani won drew applause in the National Assembly. In the north, Kurds danced in the streets upon hearing the news.
"Today Jalal Talabani made it to the seat of power, while Saddam Hussein is sitting in jail," said Mohammed Saleh, a 42-year-old Kurd in Kirkuk. "Who would have thought."
In 1988, Saddam expelled Kurds from strategic areas in the north and gassed Kurdish towns near the Iranian border, killing tens of thousands of people.
As the parliament met, mortar rounds landed in the street near the Ministry of Agriculture and the al-Sadeer hotel, injuring at least one Iraqi civilian. The target of the attack was not known, but the hotel, which has housed foreign contractors, has been attacked in the past.
The U.S. military said Wednesday that a Task Force Baghdad soldier was killed a day earlier when his patrol was hit by a bomb and attacked by insurgent gunmen.
Wednesday's election was largely a formality. Lawmakers already had agreed on Talabani and two vice presidential candidates during weeks of sometimes tense negotiations held after the country's historic Jan. 30 elections.
Shiite Adel Abdul-Mahdi (search) and interim President Ghazi al-Yawer (search), a Sunni Arab, were chosen as Talabani's two vice presidents. The three were the only candidates and received 227 votes. Thirty ballots were left blank.
Talabani's election was one of several appointments designed to reflect Iraq's diverse ethnic and religious groups. In addition to al-Yawer's job, Sunni Arabs also got the speaker post with Hajim al-Hassani's appointment.
But prominent Sunni Arab groups � whose members are believed to make up the backbone of the insurgency � distanced themselves from the government, saying al-Yawer and al-Hassani didn't represent them.
"We are not related to any process in this matter of choosing candidates for posts in this government," Association of Muslim Scholars (search) spokesman Muthana Harith Al-Dari told Al-Jazeera television.
Sunni Arabs are underrepresented in the new parliament, mostly because they boycotted the elections or stayed home because they feared attacks at the polls.
Talabani was expected to be sworn in to his post on Thursday, then name Shiite leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari prime minister, clearing the way for talks on a new constitution that must be completed by Aug. 15.
Speaking after his election, Talabani called on neighboring countries to help prevent foreign insurgents from crossing into the country, and made a gesture toward Iraqis who side with the insurgency.
"As for the Iraqis who are carrying weapons out of patriotic and anti-occupation motives, those people are our brothers and it is possible to talk with them and to reach a solution," Talabani said.
He added that his government would work to provide security so that U.S.-led coalition forces "could return home after the completion of building (Iraqi) armed forces that are capable of finishing off terrorism."
Talabani's election came after the Kurdish-led coalition won 75 of the 275 parliament seats in the elections, a major victory for a group that spent years fighting Saddam's regime.
Kurds make up 20 percent of the country's 26 million people; Shiites make up 60 percent and the Sunni Arabs are roughly 15 percent to 20 percent.
Aside from electing the prime minister, the president's post is largely ceremonial. Talabani and his two vice presidents � known as the presidential council � are supposed to "represent the sovereignty of Iraq and oversee the higher affairs of the country," according to the country's interim constitution.
The human rights minister told The Associated Press that lawmakers had asked that Saddam and other jailed members of his former government be shown the process.
Saddam, captured in December 2003, has been in custody with several of his top henchmen at a U.S.-guarded detention facility.
The National Assembly also agreed Wednesday to eventually move into a building that is currently being used by the Defense Ministry. The building, which is outside of the heavily guarded Green Zone overlooking the Tigris River, was used by the Iraqi parliament before the monarchy was overthrown.
Also Wednesday, the Interior Ministry announced that 17 insurgents were killed in clashes in eastern Diyala province two days prior. One Iraqi soldier was killed and 11 others were injured in the shootout. The U.S. military had previously reported that two U.S. soldiers were killed in the same area.
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