Iraq parliament elects new leaders

Historic meeting chooses president, speaker, PM-designate

Saturday, April 22, 2006; Posted: 5:44 p.m. EDT (21:44 GMT)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq finally has names for its top jobs -- more than four months after its historic general election.

A political deadlock appears to have been broken Saturday, with Jawad al-Maliki asked to be prime minister-designate and form a new government.

Al-Maliki, a Shiite, was nominated a day earlier to replace interim Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who had been at the center of an impasse between Iraq's political parties. (Watch politicians break the stalemate -- 1:12)

Al-Maliki was asked to form an administration by Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, who was re-elected president by the parliament.