Wednesday, April 6 2005 14:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Baghdad: Iraq's new Parliament chose former Kurdish rebel fighter Jalal Talabani as the country's first freely elected President in history.

Shiite Islamist Adel Abdel Mahdi and outgoing Sunni president Ghazi al-Yawar were named as his two deputies.

The trio, who ran unopposed after weeks of bartering among the country's Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis, was elected by 228 members of the 275-seat Parliament. Around 29 MPs cast absentee ballots, while 18 MPs did not attend.

The three names, picked nine weeks after national elections, broke the logjam that has prevented the Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis from agreeing on a cabinet line up.

Iraqi MPs predicted that a Government should now be in place by next week.