- Title: IRAQ: Campaigns are in full throttle ahead of Iraq's December 15 elections.
- Date: 11th December 2005
- Summary: WIDE OF IYAD ALLAWI AT ELECTION RALLY
- Embargoed: 26th December 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA9GAT1U70B5H7Z7F2E17CMN10E
- Story Text: Political party campaigns continue to win over fifteen million Iraqis, who are eligible to vote in elections on Dec. 15 for Iraq's first full-term, four-year parliament since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
TV channels are the main platforms to reach Iraqis, both for political entities and for the government aiming to boost turnout in the polls. One TV commercial says to Iraqis that their voice is precious as a part of the campaign to boost turnout.
Streets of Iraq host a colourful competition too. Political parties paste their posters to walls. Rallies are limited because of the country's security situation. But some leaders did successfully organise their rallies.
In Kerbala, a top Shi'ite figure in the political scene, Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim managed to gather thousands of supporters for his election speech.
Minor groups last week in Baghdad also rallied in support of former prime minister Iyad Allawi.
Chief of the Independent Electoral Commission for Iraq Adil Al-Lami described the rules of campaigning.
"The commission has put regulations preventing the use of religious symbols or any symbol, which helps foment sectarian or ethnic divisions or encourage hatred or violence on the logo, which will be put on the voting paper. It also prevented the use of the symbols in the election campaign, which foment sectarian or ethnic division or encourage violence and hatred among the people of the country These are the most important principals, which should be observed by all the political parties," said Al-Lami to Reuters.
Of course everything is not ticks like a swiss watch for democracy. Some party posters are scratched down, which may be seen normal in many countries too.
IECI deals with the situation, says Al-Lami.
"We have received complaints from a number of political entities, but in fact they are quite few and not as you imagine. If there is a violation, the political party should present a complaint through the official channels of the commission. For example, the Iraqi National List presented complaints and the commission is now studying and investigating these complaints to take the appropriate measures to prevent any such violation and to ensure respect among political parties in the election campaigns," said Al-Lami.
Iraq's preparations are complete for its parliamentary election, the Electoral Commission said on Thursday, a week before a vote that may set the balance of power for years to come in a nation at risk of all-out civil war.
Unlike January's interim poll, the first since the U.S. invasion of 2003 that overthrew Saddam Hussein, the Dec. 15 election for a full-term parliament is likely to see much of the once dominant Sunni minority come out and vote, hoping to punch their full weight in bruising political battles to come.
A profusion of candidates and a sense that, with a four-year term and a likely reduction in the U.S. presence over that time, this election offers real power to the victors.
While U.S. President George W. Bush and his officials are quick to note the contrast with Iraq's authoritarian past -- of which voters have been reminded this week by intensive coverage of Saddam's trial -- the bitterness of the campaign rhetoric, along with violence and threats, are troubling for the future.
The risk remains, however, that an influx in numbers of leaders of the 20-percent Sunni minority to the new parliament will not break the stalemate over competing demands.
Yet the campaign, in its rhetoric at least, leaves little room to suppose a peaceful compromise will be easy among Kurds set on virtual independence, Shi'ites keen to assert majority rule, Islamic law and a big share of oil revenues and Sunnis anxious to regain a prominent role in a centralised Iraqi state.
The polarisation of the electorate in different regions has meant in effect a series of parallel campaigns are being waged that has exposed splits, however, within all the communities.
Mob violence against a minority, Islamist party in Kurdistan this week showed up the ugly side of a drive by the region's two main parties, both secular though long at war with each other, to monopolise Kurdish votes and maximise their say in Baghdad.
Similarly, Shi'ite leaders campaigning against the ruling Alliance coalition formed mainly by the Islamists of SCIRI and Dawa, have complained of violence and intimidation in the south.
Prominent among those voicing outrage has been Iyad Allawi, the secular Shi'ite appointed prime minister under U.S. rule in 2004; he has welded a broad, non-sectarian coalition with conspicuously deep pockets and has mounted a serious challenge to the Alliance, which won an outright majority in January.
U.S.-led Coalition officials in Iraq have made little secret of their disappointment with the interim government, feeling it has done too little to appease Sunnis, not least through its ties to Washington's adversaries in Shi'ite Iran, and has failed to show Iraqis economic benefits from the advent of democracy.
Though his government was tarred with accusations of graft, Allawi, a former agent of U.S. and British intelligence with a strongman image, might well suit Washington as prime minister.
Bush and his officials are adamant Iraqis will choose their own government. And few doubt the Alliance will win most votes. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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