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Parliamentary elections
were marred by fraud accusations, but Iraqis and the
political opposition appear ready to move on.
Residents and Sunni Arab leaders in Baghdad are
cautiously waiting for the new government to form
and expressed hope that Iraq would soon see better
days.
As Baghdad once again plunged into darkness - the
government is offering about four hours of
electricity a day - and as car bombs, shootings and
kidnappings continue in many regions of the country,
Iraqis in the capital recognised they are facing an
uphill battle.
But despite a parliamentary election that bordered
on the ugly, with accusations of fraud at ballot
boxes and a fair amount of mud-slinging among
candidates, residents and politicians interviewed
here maintained cautious optimism about Iraq's first
permanent government following the overthrow of
former leader Saddam Hussein.
"I hope the government will be formed quickly,
unlike that of (current prime minister Ibrahim) al-Ja'afari,"
said Salim Hamdi, a 45-year-old taxi driver. "I hope
this government understands the concerns of the
Iraqi people and our daily needs."
"Security first and foremost," maintained Asma
Mahdi, a 22-year-old university student. "Then power
and water."
The final results of the December 15, 2005
parliamentary elections showed the United Iraqi
Alliance, a Shia coalition, which dominates the
current parliament, captured the highest number of
the national assembly's 275 seats.
The United Iraqi Alliance won 128, the Kurdistan
Alliance 53 and the main Sunni Arab list, the Iraqi
Accord Front, 44. The results are expected to be
ratified this week, and members of parliament will
hold power for four years.
Forty-three parties and political movements formed a
group called the Maram Movement that opposed the
election results, claiming the United Iraqi
Alliance, which currently holds 146 seats in
parliament, was guilty of electoral fraud. However,
Maram said its members would participate in politics
even if they did not trust the results or Iraq's
leading party.
That position marks a significant difference from
the January 2004 elections, when Sunni Arab parties
refused to participate and most Sunni Arab voters
boycotted the polls.
Saleh al-Mutlaq's Iraqi Front for National Dialogue
captured 11 seats. The Sunni Arab leader -
considered a hard-line Sunni Arab in some circles
and a strong community organiser in others - ran on
a tough anti-US occupation platform. He said he
believes there were more cases of fraud than the
Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq, IECI,
reported but that he would enter parliament
nonetheless.
"We are looking for a national unity government,"
said Mutlaq. "Its task is gaining independence for
Iraq and restoring safety for Iraqis."
"Whatever the percentage of representation will be
in the national assembly, the new government is
going to be a national unity government pushing the
political process forward in Iraq," said Baha al-Araji,
a representative in the current national assembly
and a member of the United Iraqi Alliance.
The election was marred by claims of fraud by Sunni
Arab slates and the Iraqi National List led by
former prime minister Ayad Allawi, which captured 25
seats. The IECI reported there were more than 2,000
allegations of irregularities.
The commission declared void votes from 227 ballot
boxes, throwing out 53 ballot boxes in full.
Investigators, including an international team
monitoring, found fake ballots in some stations and
discovered that too many votes were cast in others.
The number of cancelled ballots amounted to less
than 1 per cent of an estimated 11 million ballots
cast. But it has increased mistrust of the United
Iraqi Alliance, which critics maintain led a
religiously conservative and sectarian government in
2005.
The Shia-dominated government, led by Ja'afari of
the Dawa Party, was faced with a dire security
situation that only deteriorated as the year wore
on. It was accused of imprisoning, torturing and in
some cases killing Sunni Arabs, as well as taking an
excessively hard stance against suspected Sunni Arab
insurgents.
Although it captured most seats, the United Iraqi
Alliance will need to work with other parties and be
prepared to share out ministerial posts in order to
create a government, say analysts.
"The Shia alliance needs to stop its … attempts to
dominate most of the (cabinet) posts if it wants a
national unity government based on accordance," said
Salim al-Saad, a political analyst from Iraq Centre
for Democracy.
The prime minister is likely to be a member of the
United Iraqi Alliance, but many opposition figures
are opposed to Ja'afari being re-elected as premier.
Sunni Arabs and secular leaders such as Allawi may
support Nadim al-Jabiri, the al-Fadhila party's
candidate for prime minister, another analyst
suggested. The party is one of the less powerful
members of the United Iraqi Alliance.
"The Sunnis, Kurds and Arabs have a duty to unite
with Allawi and the al-Fadhila party," said Ihsan
al-Ubaidi, a political analyst at al-Nahrain
University in Baghdad. "They need to form a
government that stays away from Shia religious
extremism, which, if it continues, will lead the
country into a civil and sectarian war."
Zaineb Naji and Daud Salman are IWPR trainee
journalists in Baghdad.
www.iwpr.net
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