Iraq’s government remains fragile at best.
Former prime minister Ayad Allawi began reaching out to other political blocs Saturday for allies he needs to form Iraq’s next government, while accusing his main rival, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, of maneuvering to undercut his victory in the March 7 parliamentary elections.
Allawi, whose Iraqiya list bested Maliki’s State of Law coalition by two seats, 91 to 89, in results announced Friday, faces the greater challenge in putting together a majority. A secular Shiite who won by attracting Sunni Arab and secular voters, Allawi will have to woo other Shiite politicians — some of whom view Maliki as a more palatable, albeit imperfect, option — as well as Kurds.
He will also almost certainly have to make overtures to predominantly Shiite Iran, which is more influential in Iraqi politics than the United States.
Allawi appealed for national unity Saturday, saying in a news conference at his party’s headquarters, "The time has come to start building the country and laying the grounds for stability and economic development."
Maliki is making the same appeal, even as he refuses to recognize the electoral results and calls for a recount…
Inserted from <Washington Post>
It appears that Maliki’s call for national unity is disingenuous at best, considering the tactics he is employing.
At least four Sunni Muslim candidates who appear to have won parliamentary seats on the winning ticket of secular leader Ayad Allawi have become targets of investigation by security forces reporting to the narrowly defeated Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, according to interviews Saturday with relatives, Iraqi security forces and the U.S. military.
All four candidates ran in Diyala province, a restive mainly Sunni area north of Baghdad. One candidate who won more than 28,000 votes is being held incommunicado in a Baghdad jail, two other winners are on the run and the whereabouts of the fourth, a woman, are unknown.
Maliki alluded to the cases in his televised refusal Friday to accept a loss in the March 7 parliamentary elections, saying of unnamed rival candidates: "What would happen if some of them are in prison now on terror accusations and they participated in the elections and might win?"
Maliki’s critics say the Shiite prime minister is using state security forces and the courts to remove political rivals – especially prominent Sunnis – in a last-ditch effort to disqualify candidates from Allawi’s Iraqiya coalition, which holds only a two-seat lead ahead of Maliki’s State of Law bloc.
The government’s action, coupled with appeals by Maliki’s bloc for the votes to be thrown out in these cases, appeared to be a long shot maneuver to strip Allawi of his margin of victory. In the end, Iraq’s high court will have to settle this and other disputes and certify the final results, a process that could take another two weeks
One of the fugitive candidates said security forces had staged two raids on his home this week, including one Saturday morning. "I’m confused as to how I can make it to parliament to be sworn in when I can’t even go home," said Raad Dahlaki, the chairman of the Baqouba City Council. McClatchy reached him by telephone at an undisclosed location.
"Will I be stripped of my right to fill the seat I won through hard work? Will I be able to keep the promises I made to people, to improve their lives? I have no clue why there are all these attempts to arrest me," he said.
The prime minister’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment. An aide, Sadiq al Husseini, laughed and called the allegations "silly," but did not make officials available.
A senior Iraqi security official in Diyala confirmed investigations against the four, but did not provide any details of possible evidence against them…
Inserted from <McClatchy DC>
During our catastrophic Bush regime, Maliki worked very closely with Bush. It would appear that Crawford Caligula tutored him well in the art of election theft. I just hope that it doesn’t unravel before we get our troops out oi there.
6 Responses to “Can We Call It Democracy?”
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Allawi, by all appearances, is a good guy. But he isn’t a puppet, which is going to make it hard for him to get our backing.
I too prefer Allawi to Maliki. I think he will be better for women’s rights.
The Republicans are taking full credit for Iraq, and are upset that the president isn’t lauding their praises. Well, like you mention Tom, it ain’t over until it’s over and I think there is a long way to go before this fat lady sings. By the way: “Crawford Caligula?” LOL LOL!
Mike, I thing Iraq is a war that should have never been fought. The war is a waste of the lives of thousands of out troops and billions of dollars that our economy needs. It has decimated out military to such an extent that we are far weaker now than we were before we went in. That said, Petraeus’ strategy of buying off the Sunni militias was effective.
You haven’t heard ‘Crawford Caligula’ before? I coined that one in 2004. Thou shalt steal, man. 🙂
I agree with JR on this one, although I don’t know much about the Iraqi elections. This rounding up of his parlimentary members doesn’t appear to be good though. And why can’t we get the fuck out of there now and bring my step son home. His next stop – Afghanistan. Lovely.
Lisa, he may be safer there that in Afghanistan. In my opinionl, we need to get out of both.