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The interim Iraqi
government has set a date of 30 January 2005 for its
first nationwide election since the toppling of
Saddam Hussein. Here are a number of figures and
parties likely to figure prominently in the voting.
LEADING PERSONALITIES
Iyad Allawi, Iraq's US-backed interim prime
minister, heads the Iraqi National Accord party - a
small grouping that owes what influence it has to
its prominent leader.
Mr Allawi joined the Baathist party as a young man
but fell out with Saddam Hussein, its increasingly
dominant figure, in the early 1970s. He fled the
country and was injured in a 1978 assassination
attempt believed to have been ordered by the former
Iraqi leader.
Commentators note wryly that he has the advantage of
being equally mistrusted by everyone, from
Washington - which he has criticised - to ordinary
Iraqis, who suspect him of being a CIA stooge.
A member of a leading Shia family, he may attract
the votes of secular Shias.
Ghazi Yawer,
The interim president of Iraq, does not currently
lead a political party. But as a high-profile Sunni
he is in a strong position to capture the support of
the Sunni Arab minority which has seen its leading
role under Saddam Hussein evaporate in the face of
the assertive Shia majority.
Mr Yawer, a US-educated businessman and tribal
leader from the northern city of Mosul, was the
Interim Governing Council's choice for president.
He usually appears in traditional Arab dress and is
regarded as having fairly wide support among Iraq's
ethnic and religious groups.
Ahmed Chalabi
Is considered one of the prime movers behind the
US-led invasion of Iraq due to his closeness with
influential figures in Washington - but his
relationship with them has soured since the fall of
Saddam Hussein.
Many blame his Iraqi National Congress for providing
apparently unreliable evidence about Iraqi weapons
programmes, one of the main justifications for the
war.
US troops and Iraqi police raided his home and
offices in May 2004, and an arrest warrant was
issued for him and a nephew on counterfeiting
charges in August.
But Mr Chalabi - a secular Shia from a powerful and
wealthy family - is resourceful and may cobble
together an alliance of Shia parties to back him in
January's polls. If so, he could return to a
position of influence.
Adnan Pachachi
like Mr Chalabi, was once seen as a possible
president of post-Saddam Iraq, with reports
suggesting he was the UN favourite in the spring of
2004.
But the elder statesman - he was foreign minister
before Iraq's 1968 Baathist coup - did not have
enough support on the Iraqi Governing Council and
stood aside.
He heads the Iraqi Independent Democrats, a small
party formed after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
But he appears to be assembling a larger coalition -
in late November, 17 parties representing Sunni
Arabs, Kurds, Christians and secular groups gathered
at his home to call for a delay to elections.
The radical young Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr
shot to prominence after the fall of Saddam Hussein
when his Mehdi Army emerged as a key element of the
uprising against the occupation.
But Mr Sadr himself has swung between fiery
resistance and apparent willingness to compromise.
More senior Shia clerics, including the venerated
Ayatollah Ali Sistani, have had some success in
reining him in.
He is not likely to run for political office
himself, but could play an influential role through
allies.
With the two main Shia parties at least tacitly
co-operating with the US-backed administration,
candidates blessed by Mr Sadr could win the backing
of Shias unhappy with the current state of affairs.
SHIA PARTIES
The Islamic Daawa party is one of the two biggest
Shia parties in Iraq and is certain to play a major
role in the new government.
Party spokesman Ibrahim Jaafari is one of Iraq's two
vice-presidents and could well emerge as prime
minister.
The moderate party is the oldest of the country's
Shia movements, with roots going back to the 1950s.
It has suffered some fragmentation since the fall of
Saddam Hussein, and may have lost support because of
its co-operation with the occupying forces in Iraq.
The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in
Iraq, or Sciri, is an influential Shia party that
was based in Iran for much of the time Saddam
Hussein ruled Iraq.
Its leader, Abdel Aziz Hakim, is the brother of a
top Shia cleric who was killed in a massive car
bombing in August 2003. Abdel Aziz was a member of
the Iraqi Governing Council and he or a deputy will
almost certainly be a major player following
elections.
Sciri had its own militia, the 10,000-strong Badr
Brigade, until late 2003 when private militias were
banned. The body has since been renamed the Badr
Organisation and has worked alongside US and UK
troops in Iraq.
Sciri's Iranian backing has fallen off in the face
of its willingness to work with the US-backed
administration in Iraq.
KURDISH PARTIES
Iraq's Kurds represent 15-20% of the population and
have enjoyed autonomy in the north since the first
US war against Saddam Hussein in 1991.
Their two leading political parties have been
persuaded to support a united Iraq rather than an
independent Kurdistan.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has been a
dominant force in Iraqi Kurdish politics for more
than half a century.
Massoud Barzani has led the KDP since 1979, through
decades of conflict with the Iraqi government in
Baghdad and with local rivals.
The KDP commands tens of thousands of armed militia
fighters, known as peshmerga, and controls a large
area of north-western Iraq.
Mr Barzani was a member of the Iraqi Governing
Council and a lieutenant of his is now
vice-president of Iraq. He or a chosen deputy should
capture a significant role following elections.
The newer Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) was
founded in 1975 and describes itself as a modern
social-democratic party.
Under the command of the veteran Kurdish leader
Jalal Talabani, the PUK has created militia forces
and a party organisation to rival the traditionally
dominant KDP.
The party's literature says the PUK was founded in
order to "rebuild and redirect Kurdish society along
modern and democratic lines".
Mr Talabani was a member of the Iraqi Governing
Council and is likely to play a key role in the
country after elections.
OTHER PLAYERS
The Iraqi Communist Party was the subject of harsh
repression under the Saddam Hussein regime but
re-emerged immediately after his fall.
The party - which has existed since 1934 and helped
topple the British-backed monarchy in 1958 -
traditionally draws support from poor southern Shias.
Communist Mufid Mohammad Jawad al-Jazairi is the
minister of culture in the current interim
government.
The Association of Muslim Scholars is a Sunni
religious body that has called for a boycott of the
elections.
It has taken a leading role in representing Sunni
Iraqis in the absence of any organised Sunni
political parties. The lack of such parties is in
part because of the banning of former Baath party
officials from the elections.
Shia religious leaders and the US officials are
trying to persuade the association to drop its
boycott call.
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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