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ERBIL, Kurdistan-
Iraq, Dec 20 (AFP) - 15h55 - Iraqi Kurds have become
disenchanted with their conservative Shiite allies
in the outgoing national government and are keeping
all options open on how best to broker power in the
new administration.
At a January poll, Iraq's first free vote in half a
century, the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance won 140
seats in the 275-member parliament and formed an
alliance with the Kurds, who came in second with 75
seats.
Given its majority populace and a traditional
electorate voting en masse for sectarian interests,
the UIA is certain to win a large number of seats in
this month's election, with the Kurds again probably
in second place.
Yet significant cracks have emerged between the two
partners since they emerged the leading forces in
government, not least over the writing of the
constitution, the role of Islam, federalism and
women's rights.
Analyst and Kurdish writer Abdelghani Ali Yehya
believes the alliance was never a true meeting of
minds in the first place.
"They agreed on certain points without really
aligning," he said.
For Yehya the political gulf between the UIA and the
Kurds is too large, particularly on the thorny
question of the ethnically mixed oil centre of
Kirkuk, to be anything other than a marriage of
convenience.
The two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdish Democratic
Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
are keen to make Kirkuk part of the autonomous zone
they have controlled since the 1991 Gulf War.
The Shiites do not.
Under ousted president Saddam Hussein's
Sunni-dominated regime, large numbers of Kurds were
driven out of the city to make way for Arab settlers
in a deliberate attempt to change its ethnic
make-up.
Since the regime was ousted in 2003, many displaced
Kurds have sought to reclaim their homes in a city
which has become a melting pot of Arabs (both Shiite
and Sunni), Kurds and Turkmen.
The president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani,
made clear things were not all well just two days
before Thursday's election for a full-term
government.
"We were dissatisfied with this alliance because
they (the Shiites) did not respect the protocol," he
said.
"That doesn't mean we are going to end this
alliance, but we are looking to broaden it," he
added without elaborating.
Sami Shorash, an official with Barzani's KDP, said
any group wishing to align with the Kurds should
agree to various conditions.
"They must support the rights of the Kurdish people
within a federal Iraq, agree to reverse the
Arabisation measures in Kirkuk and commit to
democracy, the only way to preserve the rights of
Kurds," he said.
"We must develop a political programme with our
potential allies before forming a government," said
Adnan al-Mufti, speaker of the Kurdistan parliament
and a PUK member.
Iraq's Kurdish head of state, President Jalal
Talabani, has also publicly accused Prime Minister
Ibrahim Jaafari, a Shiite, of exceeding his
authority by taking decisions without consulting the
president.
"Any group, particularly the big ones, has its own
peculiarities. The Arabs cannot represent the Kurds
and vice versa neither. We are aware of the
situation and I think the next coalition should
include everyone," Mufti said.
Until last Thursday, Sunni Arabs largely boycotted
the political process and so their representation in
the transitional national assembly was minimal.
But Sunnis both ran candidates in the election and
voted in large numbers in a bid to boost their
showing in parliament.
Mufti believes the only way to build a strong Iraq
is to give all communities a chance to participate,
particularly in the four-year parliament.
AFP
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