UNITED NATIONS – The party that won the majority of seats in Iraq’s parliament is set to choose the next prime minister, with aides to one of the two main candidates declaring they have the support of the Bush administration, but with Washington vowing to stay out of Iraqi internal politicking.

Aides to Dawa party leader Ibrahim Jafari, a medical doctor with close ties to Iran, campaigned by telling members of the victorious party, the United Iraqi Alliance, that America would not look favorably on a victory by party rival Ahmed Chalabi, who has clashed with the administration in the past. They also said that Mr. Chalabi would not be able to work well with the administration.

But Bush administration officials told The New York Sun that Washington intends to remain neutral. “It’s an Iraqi decision and we are not supporting individuals,” said a State Department spokesperson who asked not to be named. “Whoever the Iraqi people will elect will be supported by us,” a senior White House official added.

“The administration has made clear that they don’t have a horse in this race,” Dan Senor, who had served as spokesman for the American forces in Iraq, told the Sun. “My sense is that they will work with whomever is elected. And Washington is not meddling at all. They recognize the importance of Iraqis working this out.”

After the final results of the election were officially announced yesterday, the United Iraqi Alliance, an umbrella party that secured 140 out of 275 seats in the National Assembly, was unable to finalize a decision on a candidate for prime minister. A secret vote among party members is expected no later than early next week.

Asked about Mr. Jafari in a congressional hearing, Secretary of State Rice said, “I was fortunate to spend some time with him just a few months ago and I found him very intelligent, very committed to his country.”

However some Iraq scholars pointed to the fact that despite his image as a moderate Shiite, Mr. Jafari proposes a large role for Islamic law in the nation’s future constitution, which is the major task of the newly elected assembly. His views on issues like women’s rights resemble Western democracies much less than those of Mr. Chalabi.

“Jafari is much more of a religious radical when it comes to legislation” said Iraq scholar Amatzia Baram of Haifa University. He hastened to add, however, that the fact that major legislation requires a two third majority would block any attempt to make the constitution too religiously oriented. Mr. Chalabi, he added, is “above and beyond” any others in Iraq when it comes to back-room politics and creating alliances.

Mr. Baram and other Iraq observers said that if it had its choice, the Bush administration would probably choose neither of the two candidates. Mr. Chalabi is seen as too independent and has clashed often with the Bush administration.

“The Administration probably would have preferred Mehdi over Jafari or Chalabi, but they’ve stayed out of it,” said a former administration official who worked on Iraq who asked not to be named. Current Finance Minister Adel Abdel-Mehdi leads the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq Party, which along with Dawa and Mr. Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress is part of the Alliance. He withdrew his nomination on Tuesday, leaving the other two candidates in the race.

“If they choose me I’m going to accept,” Mr. Jafari told CNN yesterday, adding a message of unity. “I can’t imagine a government without Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds.”

The current prime minister, Iyad Allawi, whose party won 40 seats – a distant third after a Kurdish party with 75 seats – strongly warned against leaving behind the Sunnis who sat out the election. “We cannot afford in this country, for now, to go on a route different to that of national unity,” he told the Associated Press.

The Shiite-dominated Alliance, however, can now muster the required two third majority if it forms a coalition with the Kurds, leaving Mr. Allawai’s party, which is much closer to the Sunnis, outside of the decision-making process.

The underlined issue is the continuation of the de-Baathification process, which Mr. Allawai opposes. On the other hand, supporters of Mr. Chalabi point to that program as one of the reasons to support him.

“The Iraqi people are looking forward for Chalabi to become Prime Minster,” Entifadh Qanbar, Mr. Chalabi’s close aide, told the Sun. He listed de-Batthification as one of Mr. Chalabi’s major achievements, as well as putting together the Alliance Party and assuring that Iraq would not become a theocracy. Mr. Chalabi, he added, “sees the United States as a strategic ally for freedom and liberty.”