Iraq's interim parliament appoints four vice presidents
Pakistan Times Wire Service

BAGHDAD (Iraq): Iraq's National Council, tasked with advising the interim government in the run-up to the January 2005 elections, appointed four vice presidents Saturday instead of the two initially planned.

Following the appointment of a Kurd, Fuad Massum, as president on Wednesday, the representatives were eager to maintain a healthy ethnic and religious balance when choosing his deputies.

So they upped the number to four.

They are Shiites Joad al-Malaki, from the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and Rassam al-Awadi, from Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi National Accord, along with Nasser al-Aani, a Sunni from the Iraqi Islamic Party and Hamid Majid Mussan, who chairs the Communist Party.●