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WASHINGTON - Dissatisfied with the results of
the Iraqi election that were announced yesterday,
leading Arab Sunni families from Mosul, a recent
hotbed of insurgency activities, have passed a
message to leaders of the unified Shiite voting bloc
urging that the next government remove Kurdish
soldiers from their city.
In an interview with The New York Sun, the
second-highest-ranking Arab Sunni politician in the
United Iraqi Alliance, Mudhar Shawkat, said he
expected there could be unrest in Mosul, Iraq's
third largest city, if steps were not taken to
include Arab Sunnis in the new government.
By telephone from Baghdad, Mr. Shawkat said, "These
people are sending delegates after delegates to see
me, from the top Arab Sunni families. They are
seeing me to express their objections to the results
of the elections, and Kurdish influence in the Mosul
area. There is a lot of interference and friction
that is happening. We need to neutralize this
friction."
Yesterday, the Independent Electoral Commission of
Iraq announced the provisional results of the
January 30 elections. As expected, the UIA received
the highest number of votes, 4,075,295, enough to
hold 48.2% of the seats in the new transitional
national assembly. The Kurdistan Alliance, a
coalition of two major Kurdish parties, came in
second with 2,175,551 votes. That number will likely
result in the Kurds controlling 26.2% of the seats.
The Iraqi List, headed by Prime Minister Allawi,
garnered only 1,168,943 votes. That total will
likely net the party of the interim government
appointed by America and the United Nations 13.8% of
the seats of the 275-member legislative body that
will draft a constitution and choose the next
government. The party of State Department favorite
Adnan Pachachi, an Arab Sunni, did not gain enough
votes for a single seat.
Already, many leading Shiite members of the UIA are
signaling their intention to reach out to the Arab
Sunnis, who will be underrepresented in the new
Parliament. Speaking on Al-Arabiya television
yesterday, the Shiite national security adviser to
Mr. Allawi, Mouwafak al-Rubaie, a critic of the
interim government, said, "Iraq and its new
government can't be built by one faction or shade,
and it is not possible that only two or three sects
participate in this government."
Over the next three days, the commission will hear
complaints on the voting process from the parties
before announcing the final seat count. One reason
the announcement of the vote count has been delayed
is because of irregularities in voting in Mosul and
Irbil, two cities largely controlled by the
Kurdistan Democratic Party, headed by Masoud Barzani.
Mr. Allawi flew to Irbil last week to meet with Mr.
Barzani, which could signal an effort by the prime
minister to create a Kurdish-Sunni alliance to blunt
the influence of the Shiite parties. Some reports
from Iraq estimated that hundreds of ballots were
stuffed in the territory controlled by Mr. Barzani,
whose forces sided with Saddam Hussein in 1996 when
it fought the other leading Kurdish party, the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
"There have been reports throughout the country of
so-called shenanigans. But these incidents are few
and far between," a Washington representative of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Qubad Talabani, told
the Sun yesterday. "This should not tarnish what
overall is a very successful election in a troubled
country."
Because of the poor showing by Arab Sunnis and
complaints about ballot stuffing, Mosul's leaders
told Mr. Shawkat that violence could increase in a
city already plagued by recent suicide bombings. Mr.
Shawkat would not share their names with the Sun
because they may still be targeted by terrorists.
Many of the insurgent leaders who fled Fallujah
before the coalition's November offensive are said
to be residing in and around Mosul.
"I am told by a lot of people from Mosul, from the
Turkmen, Christians, and Sunnis, that they are very
concerned about the power of the Kurdish parties in
those areas. Do not be surprised if there is as a
lot of violence that some could describe as a civil
war," Mr. Shawkat said.
Kurdish troops in Iraq's National Guard have
policed Mosul in recent months. Qubad Talabani, son
of the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan,
Jalal Talabani, told the Sun yesterday, "Kurdish
forces are one of the reasons why there is stability
in Mosul. They were called upon by the Iraqi
government to go into the city to restore order. The
fact that there were no major incidents in Mosul
during the elections is a testament to the
professionalism of the Kurdish security forces."
Jalal Talabani is emerging as a likely candidate to
become president of the new assembly. He has already
started negotiations with the three leading Shiite
candidates for prime minister: Ahmad Chalabi,
Ibrahim Jafari, and Adel Abdel-Mehdi. All three men
have also said that Jalal Talabani is acceptable for
the job, but nothing more. Mr. Talabani's son, Qubad,
would only tell the Sun yesterday that his father is
"one of the leading candidates for the position."
Mr. Shawkat yesterday said that Jalal Talabani was
the most likely figure at this point to emerge as
president of the new Iraq, but he expressed some
reservations. "If Jalal wins, it may send the
message to the Arab world that an Arab country is
being led by a Kurd. I think he deserves to be the
president, he has done so much for our country, but
is this the right time for that? Or is it better to
wait?" he said.
Mr. Shawkat is the 59th name on the UIA list. He was
a leading figure in the Iraqi National Congress when
that organization was an umbrella group for exile
parties, forming his own organization for Arab Sunni
exiles. As an Arab Sunni politician who ran for
office on the largely Shiite list, Mr. Shawkat is
also emerging as a key emissary of the new
government to the Arab-Sunni-based communities that
have not fared well in the election, along with the
34th name on the UIA list, an Arab Sunni sheik who
hails from outside of Mosul, Fawaz al-Jarba.
Mr. Shawkat told the Sun yesterday that he hoped the
new government would reserve 30% of the ministries
in the new government for Sunni politicians. "I am
calling for an inclusive government which will take
the ministers and executive body from outside the
assembly rather than inside. I want everyone to
participate, I want people to participate,
especially the people who could not vote," he said.
Mr. Shawkat also made clear the kind of Arab Sunnis
he did not support as candidates for the new
government. "I will not go for any Arab Sunni who
have participated in violence, encouraged violence,
or stood by and said nothing about violence. We are
for people who reject violence and support a
peaceful democratic discussion," Mr. Shawkat said.
He stressed that he hoped the new government would
also focus its efforts to purge security services of
Baathists who have participated in violent crimes
and those at the most senior level of the government
toppled nearly two years ago by the American-led
coalition.
Mr. Allawi has come under fire from leading Shiite
politicians for placing Iraq's security in the hands
of former Baathist officials that have tipped off
the insurgency. Mr. Allawi says the security
services are not as penetrated as his Shiite critics
and maintains that his hiring decisions were
necessary to placate the largely Arab Sunni-based
insurgency. But Mr. Shawkat, who is urging the new
government to reach out to Arab Sunnis, conceded
yesterday, "The biggest problem with the security
forces is inside the security forces."
http://www.nysun.com
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