IT IS proving as hard to find a beauty queen as it is to find a prime minister in Iraq.

Exhausted by the time their politicians are taking to agree on a leader, the country thought it had at least succeeded in choosing a Miss Iraq.

But last night the people’s choice — Tamar Goregian, 23, a blonde student with photogenic pout — was in hiding in neighbouring Jordan, having hastily renounced her crown after death threats from Islamic extremists.

Only six days ago she was revelling in her victory, blinking back tears of joy as she told admirers crammed into a Baghdad nightclub that “maybe beauty is the final step to end the violence here and preach peace after all”.

Organisers had hoped that her appearance at the Miss Universe contest in Los Angeles in July would show the world a different image of Iraq. By yesterday they were searching for a replacement after fundamentalists denounced Miss Goregian, an Armenian Christian, as “the Queen of Infidels”. The two runners-up, both Muslim, swiftly declined the crown.

Last night it was left to the fourth-placed contestant, Silva Sahagian, 23, another Christian, to assume the mantle. “Our politicians should have more to worry about than whether Miss Iraq should go to America,” she said. “I cannot believe the extremists would do anything to a beauty queen.” A civil engineering student in Baghdad, she added: “I want to show the world Iraq has beauty and education and talent instead of just bloodshed.”

Staging the world’s most dangerous beauty pageant proved tricky from the start. Merely to visit a nightclub is to invite kidnapping or worse. The event was held in secret to avoid prying eyes, and nine of the twenty finalists got cold feet on the day of the contest and dropped out.

To avoid offending sensibilities any further, contestants were requested to wrap a sarong over their one-piece bathing suits as they paraded for the judges. But in a nod to democracy, the audience was allowed to vote for the winner.

The organiser, who was too afraid to give his name, said: “We have no hard feelings towards Tamar Goregian. She couldn’t handle it and is frightened for her family. She just sent us an e-mail and ran.”

Miss Sahagian, who has shoulder-length auburn hair and hazel eyes and chose an all-pink outfit for the contest, insists that her fellow contestants were professional women and not “airheads”. Their traditional mantra about “wanting to do their part for world peace” resonates in Baghdad.

Yesterday brought the usual catalogue of mayhem. A car bomb killed at least 26 people and injured 70 outside a Shia mosque north of Baghdad. The explosion in Howaydir was the latest in a wave of attacks against Iraq’s Shia majority.

Three other car bombs around the country killed eight people. Gunmen killed three government officials as the Interior Minister admitted that death squads are operating among Iraq’s security forces. Two US soldiers died after an attack on their vehicle, bringing the number killed already this month to thirty-three — two more than in the whole of March.

Iraq’s parliament, meanwhile, announced plans to meet next week in an effort to break a three-month impasse over who should be prime minister. The majority Shia parties had promised a resolution by yesterday over the fate of Ibrahim Jaafari — the embattled incumbent, who is bitterly opposed by the Sunni and Kurdish factions — but now say they need more time.

It remains to be seen whether Mr Jaafari lasts longer in office than the latest Miss Iraq.

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