New York: The Bush administration is pressing the United Nations envoy for Iraq to change his proposal for a transitional Iraqi Government once self-rule is returned on June 30, officials said.

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Instead of a Government that is non-political, the administration is now pushing for one that gives prominent roles to people with ties to political parties, Iraqi and US officials told the 'New York Times'.

The officials said the new thinking in Washington reflected doubts that a transitional Government of technocrats would be strong enough.

Leading Kurdish and Shiite political figures, many of them members of the American-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, have pressed for the change, administration officials said. These figures are clamouring to hold on to power after the council is dissolved June 30, the 'Times' said.

In particular, the administration is said to be wedded to a large role for Adnan Pachachi, the former Foreign Minister who has guided the process of writing Iraq's transitional constitution, and to figures tied to political groups loyal to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the Shiite cleric.

"The Government is going to have both technocrats and people of political stature," a senior administration official told the paper. "It's important to have both sides in the Government."

Only two weeks ago, the administration embraced the proposal of Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy to Iraq that the Government consist of technocrats, though a top official cautioned then that some political presence could not be ruled out.