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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Asking someone whether he or
she is Shiite, Sunni or Kurd was once taboo in Iraq.
Iraq was one country, bound through wars and
dictatorship, not a nation of divided sects or
ethnic groups, came the standard answer.
But that national identity has been breaking down in
the parliamentary election campaign. In the absence
of political ideologies or competing policy agendas,
the nation's newly formed political parties are
increasingly depending on religious and ethnic
labels to help voters distinguish among them.
While the appeals help build party support for the
Jan. 30 elections, they contribute to a growing
sectarianism.
Shiite Muslim Arabs account for roughly 60 percent
of Iraq's population. Sunni Muslim Arabs are about
20 percent, and the ethnic Kurds, who are also Sunni
Muslim, are another 20 percent, mainly in the north
of the country.
On the campaign posters plastered on thick concrete
blast walls around Baghdad, only one name and face
appears regularly: Grand Ayatollah Ali al Husseini
al Sistani, the leading Shiite cleric, who isn't a
candidate. Sistani appears on campaign signs for the
major Shiite party, the United Iraqi Alliance. Some
signs have Sistani and a verse from the Quran.
Others have him above a campaign slogan.
"With your voice, we will build Iraq," reads one.
"No to dictatorship, Yes to the coalition," reads
another.
None of the signs spell out what the party would do
if it won.
Political parties are widely distrusted in Iraq.
During Saddam Hussein's reign, only one party could
operate freely, the Baath Party. And party politics
usually meant courting favors for party members.
Indeed, the word "party" has such negative
connotations that of the 111 political parties that
will appear on the ballot, only 19 use the word
"party" in their names. The rest call themselves
coalitions, gatherings, assemblies and the like.
Political parties "are going to the religious
leaders to gain the people's respect," said Ahmed al
Ruwaee, an economics professor at al Mustansiriya
University in Baghdad who's followed the election.
"It's because the parties are not confident in their
base."
In the process, it creates sectarianism, al Ruwaee
said. Instead of campaigning on their plans for the
country, they're leaning on the citizens' loyalty to
their religious leaders.
Saad Jawad Quindeel, a spokesman for the Supreme
Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq - which is
part of the United Iraqi Alliance - defended evoking
Sistani's name in the campaign. Quindeel said the
Shiite campaign included "recognizing the Islamic
identity of the Iraqi people."
He denied that a Shiite slate meant sectarianism.
"We are not calling for a Sistani state. No doubt if
we did that, we would divide the state," he said.
Earlier this week, interim Prime Minister Iyad
Allawi, who's running on a secular Shiite slate,
said he believed that the election would unify the
country.
The Shiites are expected to make big gains and win
control of the government. The minority Sunnis have
run the government for most of the past century, and
the expected change in power may be contributing to
sectarian discord.
At Baghdad University, students hesitated to suggest
a divide between sects. A group of women sitting at
a cafeteria in the student union at first said Iraq
remained a united country. But talking about their
views on the election widened the gap.
Wasab Mehdi, 21, a Shiite political-science student,
said she didn't know much about the candidates, but
planned to vote, calling it a "duty to my country."
She insisted there's no divide between sects: "We
are all Muslims."
Next to her sat her friend Nadia Khatim, 21, a
Sunni, who said she wouldn't vote because her
neighborhood was littered with messages threatening
to behead anyone who voted. And Khatim said she was
worried about what Iraq would look like under Shiite
leadership. "I have fears that my country will
change," she said.
Mehdi chimed in: "There is no need to worry. It
doesn't matter, Sunni or Shiite, as long as an
honorable person is in power."
"For you, it doesn't matter," her friend responded.
For Khatim herself, as a Sunni, "it will."
Poor security inhibits learning much about the
parties and candidates beyond simple labels. The
Independent Electoral Commission, which is in charge
of producing the elections, has refused to release
the names of the 7,000-plus candidates who are
running, saying it's too dangerous for them. It has
promised to announce the names eventually.
In the meantime, it's been up to the parties to let
people know who's running on their slates. Many
release only the top names on the ticket. The
parties also say the bad security precludes them
from announcing their candidates, and from going out
and meeting voters.
The lack of any understanding about the parties
perpetuates the distrust between citizens and
parties, said Nasser Chadiriji, the head of the
National Democratic Party.
"If I were to vote for a list, when would I find out
who is on the list?" asked Ahmed Abu Hiba, a Sunni
from Fallujah. "I would participate, but I don't
know the people."
Chadiriji said two of his party's 48 candidates
resigned Friday after receiving death threats; the
remaining are afraid to leave their homes.
He thinks every participant should have eight guards
around him before announcing his candidacy. But he
said his party couldn't afford such protection for
all its candidates.
"Most of the parties, especially those that don't
have militias, can't campaign," Chadiriji said.
Some of the sectarian split is fueled by the growing
difference in experiences for Sunnis and Shiites
leading up to the election, residents said. Shiite
parties have announced more of the candidates on
their lists and have encouraged more voter
participation than their Sunni counterparts.
The Sunnis say the violent insurgency has spread
into their major strongholds, and that the American
attack on Fallujah made it impossible for them to
campaign. The major Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic
Party, withdrew from the election last month, citing
security problems among its voters.
"How can elections be held where whole towns have
been wiped out?" asked Ibrahim Abdullah, 25, a Sunni
student at Baghdad University who lives in Fallujah
and who thinks the United States wants the Sunnis to
lose. "The winner will be carried in by the
Americans."
Most people don't understand how the elections will
work, where they'll vote or even what they're voting
for, al Ruwaee said, forcing them to turn to their
religious leaders for guidance.
"To a lot of people, the process is unclear. A lot
of people think we are voting for a president, not a
national assembly," he said. "I had to do my own
research to understand the process myself."
Some remain optimistic that nationalism, which grew
during Iraq's more prosperous economic years and
continued through Saddam's leadership, will keep
sectarianism from becoming a permanent part of Iraqi
politics.
Sunnis and Shiites "are like the Tigris and the
Euphrates; no matter how separated we are, in the
end, we meet," said Zahnab Ahmed, 22, a Shiite from
Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood.
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