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Iraqis Gear Up for Elections
The alliances vying for a place in the National Assembly are wooing an electorate weary of violence and unemployment.
Political fervour is mounting on the streets of Baghdad and in the Iraqi media ahead of the country's parliamentary elections.
Iraqis will go to the polls on December 15 to vote in the country's second elections since Saddam Hussein was ousted in April 2003. The political slates are more diverse - and more contentious - than during the January elections, but people in Baghdad are suffering from many of the same problems as earlier this year. Unemployment, violence and poor public services such as electricity hinder the day-to-day lives of residents.
"These are the important issues that matter to voters, and they are the lowest common denominator of most of the agendas of parties participating in the elections," said Jenan Mubarak, director of the Iraqi Centre for Women's Rehabilitation and Employment.
Unlike in January, when Iraqis chose a temporary National Assembly primarily tasked with drafting a post-Baathist constitution, voters this time will new elect political slates that will hold parliamentary seats for four years. Twenty alliances are vying for the National Assembly's 275 seats.
They are trying to court voters with diverse slogans that promise everything from great leadership and improved security to eradicating corruption. Their messages are plastered on posters throughout Baghdad's streets and carried through media owned by powerful candidates.
While some television stations such as the government's Al-Iraqiyah channel encourage citizens to go to the polls, other media unabashedly splash the number of the coalition they support – often the one that pays their bills – at the top of the television channel or newspaper.
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http://www.iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=258639&apc_state=henh
Iraqis will go to the polls on December 15 to vote in the country's second elections since Saddam Hussein was ousted in April 2003. The political slates are more diverse - and more contentious - than during the January elections, but people in Baghdad are suffering from many of the same problems as earlier this year. Unemployment, violence and poor public services such as electricity hinder the day-to-day lives of residents.
"These are the important issues that matter to voters, and they are the lowest common denominator of most of the agendas of parties participating in the elections," said Jenan Mubarak, director of the Iraqi Centre for Women's Rehabilitation and Employment.
Unlike in January, when Iraqis chose a temporary National Assembly primarily tasked with drafting a post-Baathist constitution, voters this time will new elect political slates that will hold parliamentary seats for four years. Twenty alliances are vying for the National Assembly's 275 seats.
They are trying to court voters with diverse slogans that promise everything from great leadership and improved security to eradicating corruption. Their messages are plastered on posters throughout Baghdad's streets and carried through media owned by powerful candidates.
While some television stations such as the government's Al-Iraqiyah channel encourage citizens to go to the polls, other media unabashedly splash the number of the coalition they support – often the one that pays their bills – at the top of the television channel or newspaper.
Read More
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=258639&apc_state=henh
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By Jasim al-Sabawi in Tikrit and Haweeja and Amanj Khalil in Sulaimaniyah (ICR No. 156, 13-Dec-05)
Noor, a 23-year-old from Tikrit, has never voted. Her father cast a ballot in her name during the constitutional referendum in October, though she had wanted to do it herself.
"My father wouldn't let [me] vote because of the security situation, and the voting centre was far away," said Noor. "With any luck, I will get to participate in this election."
As Iraqis prepare to elect their first permanent parliament since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, activists worry that women like Noor are too influenced by the men in their lives. They say that during both the referendum and the parliamentary election in January, men simply voted on behalf of their female family members – a practice that is against the law.
Ali Isa Omran, spokesman for the Salahaddin office of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, insisted that such breaches of the rules are rare. “According to the regulations, no voter is allowed to carry more than one identification card," he said.
But in Salahaddin and other provinces, electoral monitors, women's activists and people on the street claimed that men had voted for female family members in past polls.
"I voted for my wife and all of my family members, because our traditions don't allow women to take part in such activities," said Faris Abdullah Hassan, a 35-year-old who works at odd jobs in Haweeja, in northern Iraq’s Kirkuk province. "The security situation is bad, and I can't risk my family's life."
In Tikrit, a Sunni Arab stronghold in Salahaddin province and the home of Saddam Hussein, United States military helicopters hover above the city to monitor security and watch for insurgents. Although Tikrit now counts as a relatively stable, many residents reported that men cast ballots for women because they feared violence at the polls.
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http://www.iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=258643&apc_state=henh
By Safaa Mansur in Basra (ICR No. 156, 13-Dec-05)
Hadi Ameesh al-Karnawi hangs a huge banner on the cracked wall of his house in Basra's al-Hayaniyah neighbourhood. "Elect the United Iraqi Alliance so that the mass grave diggers will not return," it reads.
The bodies of Karnawi's three sons were discovered in a mass grave unearthed after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003. He is a member of the Badr organisation, the paramilitary wing of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq - one of the top political entities in the United Iraqi Alliance.
"The December 15 elections will be like a decisive battle," said Karnawy, 55. "The next government, which will be in power for four years, will be a Shia one."
Basra, Iraq's third-largest city with a majority Shia population, is one of the strongholds of the United Iraqi Alliance, the Shia-dominated slate that now holds more seats than any other list in parliament.
Though it is expected to do well in the upcoming poll, it is likely to lose some parliamentary seats to less religious Shia-led alliances, such as deputy prime minister Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, and Sunni Arab slates that are contesting Iraq's polls for the first time since Saddam's government was ousted.
Shias – and particularly religious conservatives in Shia-dominated areas like Basra - were oppressed under Saddam's alternatively secular and Sunni-led government. Shia parties and leaders dominate Basra province now, and armed militiamen try to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, according security sources and residents in the area.
Captain Ziad al-Sadoon of the Basra police force said Islamic militias, particularly the Badr organisation and the Mahdi Army belonging to the young Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, are powerful elements here, and try to apply Sharia law and punish those seen as violating it.
Sadoon said, "Most of the human rights violations are done in the name of Islam, such as restrictions on freedoms – especially women's rights – and destroying liquor stores."
Ahmed al-Aboodi, a member of the Islamic Dawa Party casually dressed in a suit without a necktie, defended Islamic organisations against the allegations and said Basra's conservatism needs to be respected.
Read More
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=icr&s=f&o=258645&apc_state=henh