Iraqi poll pledged to end unrest

But president's promise fails to ease anger on the streets after deadly protests

BAGHDAD - Iraq's president vowed on Thursday to hold early elections in response to a month of deadly protests, but demonstrators said the move fell far short of their demands for a political overhaul.

In his first televised address in weeks, President Barham Saleh said the country's embattled Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi was ready to step down, but there was so far no one to take his place.

"The prime minister expressed his willingness to submit his resignation, asking the political parties to reach an agreement on an acceptable alternative," said Saleh.

He pledged to hold early elections as soon as a new voting law and oversight commission was agreed, but his speech did not appear to impress demonstrators.

"Abdel Mahdi's resignation isn't a solution, it's part of the solution. The problem is with the ruling parties, not with Abdel Mahdi," said Haydar Kazem, 49, a protester.

Iraqi leaders have scrambled to respond to massive protests that erupted on Oct 1 over unemployment and corruption, ballooning into demands for "the downfall of the government".

Saleh has held closed-door talks with top figures over Abdel Mahdi's ouster and Parliament has called on the premier to come in for questioning. Abdel Mahdi has so far resisted, saying he would only appear if the session was aired on television.

Lawmakers met on Thursday for a fourth consecutive day and agreed to broadcast any session live, with MPs from the Saeroon political alliance chanting: "Adel must come! Adel must come!"

Abdel Mahdi, 77, came to power a year ago through a tenuous partnership between populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and paramilitary leader Hadi al-Ameri.

The kingmakers' alliance has frayed in recent months, as Sadr threw his weight behind the protests while Ameri and his allies backed the government.

A rapprochement built on Abdel Mahdi's ouster appeared close on Tuesday night, but disagreements over who could replace him seemed to have slowed down the process.

The United Nations' top representative in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, called for a national dialogue to draw a roadmap out of the crisis.

"Today Iraq stands at a crossroads. Progress through dialogue, or divisive inaction," she said. "Full access to all information, facts and figures will prove key. Window dressing will only feed anger and resentment."

Since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, Iraq's political system has been gripped by clientelism, corruption and sectarianism.

One in five Iraqis live below the poverty line and youth unemployment stands at 25 percent, despite the vast oil wealth of OPEC's second-largest crude producer.

That inequality has been a rallying cry for the protests.

"Because of these politicians, there are now two classes in Iraq: those with huge salaries and those killed demanding their rights," said Sabah Kazem, a protester in the southern city of Nasiriyah.

Nearby, Diwaniyah saw its largest rallies yet: Students, teachers, farmers and health workers hit the streets as government offices remained closed.

In Basra, demonstrators cut off a main road leading to the Umm Qasr port, one of the main conduits for imports into Iraq, authorities said.

In Baghdad, demonstrators packed onto two bridges leading to the Green Zone, where government buildings and foreign embassies are based, setting up barricades to face off against riot police trying to hold them off with tear gas.

On Thursday, paramilitary fighters of the Hashed al-Shaabi group, which had backed the government, held their own demonstration near Tahrir Square.

At least 257 people have died and 10,000 have been wounded since protests broke out on Oct 1, with 100 people losing their lives in the last week, the Iraqi Human Rights Commission said.

Agencies