Iraq: To vote or not to vote

Posters are going up along the streets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities bearing a message from Iraq's highest religious authority Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani to his followers. "The supreme religious authority has issued a fatwa (religious ruling) that Iraqis should cast their vote in the forthcoming election," reads the text that is printed next to a photo of the 80-year-old Sistani, along with a map of Iraq and the Iraqi flag.

While Sistani's poster campaign is the most visible today in the cities and towns of Iraq, hundreds of other election-related posters and banners can be seen covering the walls and fluttering in the skies, reflecting the multiplicity of political groups and movements, many of which are arguably devoid of any real grassroots support. According to the Iraqi election commission, at least 212 Iraqi political parties and movements have registered to contest the forthcoming elections due to be held on 30 January, a number unprecedented in the history of the country. But, according to Iraqi writer Mohamed Al-Obeidy, this panoply of choices is less the reflection of a true democratic process than of the chaos that is Iraq under the occupation.

According to Iraq's law of administration for the transitional period, the elections represent the second phase of the process of returning sovereignty to the Iraqi people. The law stipulates that elections to the 275-seat National Assembly should not be delayed beyond 31 January. This assembly will then draft a true Iraqi constitution. The second phase will come to an end with the formation of an Iraqi government pursuant to a permanent constitution. Under the law, the new government should be elected no later than December 2005.

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http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/719/re6.htm