IRAQ: TAREQ AL-HASHIMI, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE IRAQI ISLAMIC PARTY SPEAKING IN BAGHDAD SAYS THE SUNNI PARTY IS WITHDRAWING FROM THE ELECTIONS.
Record ID:
222835
IRAQ: TAREQ AL-HASHIMI, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE IRAQI ISLAMIC PARTY SPEAKING IN BAGHDAD SAYS THE SUNNI PARTY IS WITHDRAWING FROM THE ELECTIONS.
- Title: IRAQ: TAREQ AL-HASHIMI, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE IRAQI ISLAMIC PARTY SPEAKING IN BAGHDAD SAYS THE SUNNI PARTY IS WITHDRAWING FROM THE ELECTIONS.
- Date: 27th December 2004
- Summary: (U4) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (DECEMBER 27, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE IRAQI ISLAMIC PARTY; SCU SIGN READING: 'THE IRAQI ISLAMIC PARTY' (3 SHOTS) 0.14 2. MV: TAREQ AL- HASHIMI, THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE IRAQI ISLAMIC PARTY, IN HIS OFFICE. 0.21 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE IRAQI ISLAMIC PARTY, TAREQ AL-HASHIMI, SAYING: "Today the party took a very difficult decision, which was to withdraw from the elections because it is convinced that the situation will not improve to allow conditions for credible elections within that time frame (January 30)." 0.41 4. MV: AL- HASHIMI IN HIS OFFICE. (2 SHOTS) 0.52 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 11th January 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA9TTMYCDWISCYSY9ZXVULKZMW5
- Story Text: Iraq's top Sunni party withdraws from January vote.
Iraq's top Sunni Muslim party is withdrawing from
January 30 elections, saying persistent violence would keep
people from voting in the Sunni north and west.
"Today the party took a very difficult decision, which
was to withdraw from the elections because it is convinced
that the situation will not improve to allow conditions for
credible elections within that time frame," Tareq Al-
Hashimi, the Secretary General of the Iraqi Islamic Party,
said on Monday (December 27).
His party had threatened to boycott the election unless
it was postponed by up to six months to ensure that voters
across the country would be able to vote.
The Iraqi Islamic Party has said it was withdrawing
from the poll because violence in Sunni areas meant it
would not be free or fair.
Violence in Sunni areas has raised fears that voters
there will be too intimidated to cast their ballots.
The Iraqi Islamic Party had fielded a list of 275
candidates for the January 30 vote, which will choose a
National Assembly to draft a constitution and appoint a
government.
It was not clear if the party would appear on ballot
papers.
The withdrawal came hours after a suicide car bomber
hit one of the biggest Shi'ite Muslim parties running in
elections next month, killing 13 people but missing its
leader.
The bomb exploded outside the Baghdad head office of
the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq
(SCIRI), a party set up in exile in Iran to oppose Saddam
Hussein and one of the strongest groups contesting the
January 30 election.
SCIRI is part of the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition
formed under the auspices of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to
stand in the election.
Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shi'ite cleric, has
issued a religious edict obliging Shi'ites to vote in the
poll, a move that is likely to boost turnout and favour
Shi'ite parties.
That has led to concerns among Iraq's 20 percent Sunni
Arab minority that they will be marginalised at the ballot
box, particularly since most of the violence sweeping the
country is in Sunni Arab areas to the north and west of
Baghdad. The Sunnis have long dominated Iraq, including
under fellow Sunni Saddam.
Last month, Sunni Arab groups, including the Iraqi
Islamic Party, called for the poll to be delayed by up to
six months, arguing that there was no way it could be free
and fair amid the mayhem. The Electoral Commission rejected
that request. Despite the withdrawal, the party's name is expected
to remain on the ballot paper and it could still receive
votes. The party has registered 275 candidates to stand in
the poll.
Surveys have indicated that most Iraqis, including
Sunnis, want to vote. Only the fear of violence may deter
some.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have warned of an increase in
violence in the run-up to the election, which will see the
creation of a 275-seat national assembly and a new
government.
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