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Faili Kurds say they are determined to run as
independents in the upcoming elections in Iraq,
after refusing offers to join the big Shia and
Kurdish coalitions.
“As Failis, we took part in helping the Kurdish
movements during their struggle against the
dictatorship of Saddam, and now we are gaining our
own results,” said Farhad Ali, a 34-year-old Faili
trader.
“For this reason we have decided to run in the
election without anyone’s help.”
The Failis, Shia Kurds who live in Baghdad and the
border area between Iraq and Iran, see the election
as an opportunity to have a voice in government at
last.
They faced severe repression under Saddam Hussein,
who in the early Eighties accused them of being
Iranians and deported hundreds of thousands of them,
confiscating their property and identification
documents.
Twenty years later, two political parties are
representing the Failis in the forthcoming election.
The Islamic Union of Iraqi Faili Kurds is going it
alone, standing as a separate party; while the Free
Faili Kurdish Organisation is running in the Justice
and Future list together with the Democratic Justice
and Progress Party.
Said Rajab Rahim, secretary general of the Free
Faili Kurdish Organisation, said his group was
approached by the United Iraqi Alliance, the top
Shia list, and by the main Kurdish list which unites
the two big Kurdish parties. But neither coalition
offered a good enough placing on its list of
candidates.
Each party vying for the 275 seats in Iraq’s
transitional National Assembly has drawn up a list
of candidates, ranked first to last. The seats will
be allocated according to the percentage that each
party wins in the nationwide election.
“The Kurds asked us to join their list offering two
seats for us, but we refused because that quota did
not satisfy us, and we didn’t know the position of
the two names on the list,” said Rahim. “The parties
in the United Iraqi Alliance asked us to join their
list with 12 names, but we were sure that the names
would be put at the bottom of the list.”
Rahim said the Faili Kurds have a strong political
platform and an established movement which succeed
on its own. His group’s election manifesto includes
gaining back Faili rights, their Iraqi nationality
and property, as well as supporting a constitutional
state which is democratic and ensures religious and
political freedom.
“We hope that justice can lead in all Iraq,” said
Rahim.
This story has not been bylined because of concerns
for the security of IWPR reporters.
http://www.iwpr.net
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