Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
BAGHDAD, Dec 24 (AFP) - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was attempting
Saturday to resolve a growing political row set off by contested general
election results, amid fears the dispute could fuel the insurgency.
A meeting of top leaders was underway Saturday morning, his office said,
giving no details.
Some two dozens parties, including the main Sunni Arab coalition, on
Thursday called for a re-run of the December 15 elections because of alleged
fraud. Elements from the Sunni Arab minority, dominant under ousted dictator
Saddam Hussein, are seen as the backbone behind the insurgency.
Electoral commission official Adel al-Lami Saturday said the commission was
investigating some 1,500 complaints, but he appeared to rule out any
large-scale new polling.
"If need be voting can be repeated in small areas, but there is no evidence
until now this will be required," he said.
Complaints concerned no more than 5 percent of the total of some 10 million
votes cast, he added.
Early results suggest Shiite-based religious parties, dominant in the
outgoing government, will have a commanding position in the next parliament.
Final results are not expected before January.
Talabani, a Kurd, said Friday he was trying to foster "a government of
national unity" by convening talks amongst various political factions.
"I started meeting on Wednesday with leaders from the (Sunni-based) National
Concord Front, from the Iraqi National list (led by former prime minister
Iyad Allawi) and from the (Shiite-based) United Iraqi Alliance to bring
their viewpoints together," Talabani told reporters.
"I'll do everything in my power to bring about a government of national
unity," he added.
On Friday, several thousand people took to the streets in several mainly
Sunni towns to protest alleged ballot-rigging.
Jawad al-Maliki, a Shiite Alliance leader, Saturday ruled out any election
re-run.
"One has to accept the results," he told a news conference.
In a new twist Saturday, the electoral commission said a court had ruled
that former officials from Saddam's Baath party who ran in the elections
were to be struck from the lists.
"The Supreme Judicial Court has overruled the commission's initial decision
to allow them to run and we are now applying the law and removing the names
of about 100 candidates," Lami told AFP.
"We are asking political parties to submit new names from the same electoral
lists to replace the candidates struck off," he said, giving no details as
to the parties and candidates concerned.
The electoral law does not allow former senior officials from Saddam's Baath
party to run for parliament. Most of those struck off are believed to be
members of the Sunni Arab minority.
Disqualifications should not affect the parties' overall parliamentary
representation, they a number of top leaders are expected to be denied
seats.
A senior US diplomat in Baghdad, Robert Ford, Friday said Washington hoped
for a government of national unity.
The United States hopes to see "a government that fosters a sense of
national reconciliation, holding to account criminals of the last regime
when necessary, but in general working towards national reconciliation," he
said.
Meanwhile, Iraq's economic hopes got a major lift Friday when the
International Monetary Fund cleared a 685 million dollar standby loan to
help the shattered country get back on its feet.
The US government welcomed the IMF arrangement, as well as an
11-billion-dollar debt exchange agreement between Baghdad and commercial
creditors who were owed money by the ousted regime.
Both developments should help Iraq win billions more in credit from both
sovereign and commercial lenders as it tries to establish a functioning
democracy in the face of a bloody insurgency.
"The Iraqi authorities were successful in promoting macro-economic stability
in 2005, despite the extremely difficult security environment," IMF deputy
managing director Takatoshi Kato said in a statement.
In Washington, senior democratic lawmakers welcomed an announcement made by
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during a trip to Iraq that 7,000 US
troops will be withdrawn from the country in the spring.
But congressman John Murtha, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, maintained his
demand for a full withdrawal.
"Our presence in Iraq continues to unify the insurgents against the US
forces ... We have to give the Iraqis a timetable to take charge of their
own destiny," he said.
Saturday to resolve a growing political row set off by contested general
election results, amid fears the dispute could fuel the insurgency.
A meeting of top leaders was underway Saturday morning, his office said,
giving no details.
Some two dozens parties, including the main Sunni Arab coalition, on
Thursday called for a re-run of the December 15 elections because of alleged
fraud. Elements from the Sunni Arab minority, dominant under ousted dictator
Saddam Hussein, are seen as the backbone behind the insurgency.
Electoral commission official Adel al-Lami Saturday said the commission was
investigating some 1,500 complaints, but he appeared to rule out any
large-scale new polling.
"If need be voting can be repeated in small areas, but there is no evidence
until now this will be required," he said.
Complaints concerned no more than 5 percent of the total of some 10 million
votes cast, he added.
Early results suggest Shiite-based religious parties, dominant in the
outgoing government, will have a commanding position in the next parliament.
Final results are not expected before January.
Talabani, a Kurd, said Friday he was trying to foster "a government of
national unity" by convening talks amongst various political factions.
"I started meeting on Wednesday with leaders from the (Sunni-based) National
Concord Front, from the Iraqi National list (led by former prime minister
Iyad Allawi) and from the (Shiite-based) United Iraqi Alliance to bring
their viewpoints together," Talabani told reporters.
"I'll do everything in my power to bring about a government of national
unity," he added.
On Friday, several thousand people took to the streets in several mainly
Sunni towns to protest alleged ballot-rigging.
Jawad al-Maliki, a Shiite Alliance leader, Saturday ruled out any election
re-run.
"One has to accept the results," he told a news conference.
In a new twist Saturday, the electoral commission said a court had ruled
that former officials from Saddam's Baath party who ran in the elections
were to be struck from the lists.
"The Supreme Judicial Court has overruled the commission's initial decision
to allow them to run and we are now applying the law and removing the names
of about 100 candidates," Lami told AFP.
"We are asking political parties to submit new names from the same electoral
lists to replace the candidates struck off," he said, giving no details as
to the parties and candidates concerned.
The electoral law does not allow former senior officials from Saddam's Baath
party to run for parliament. Most of those struck off are believed to be
members of the Sunni Arab minority.
Disqualifications should not affect the parties' overall parliamentary
representation, they a number of top leaders are expected to be denied
seats.
A senior US diplomat in Baghdad, Robert Ford, Friday said Washington hoped
for a government of national unity.
The United States hopes to see "a government that fosters a sense of
national reconciliation, holding to account criminals of the last regime
when necessary, but in general working towards national reconciliation," he
said.
Meanwhile, Iraq's economic hopes got a major lift Friday when the
International Monetary Fund cleared a 685 million dollar standby loan to
help the shattered country get back on its feet.
The US government welcomed the IMF arrangement, as well as an
11-billion-dollar debt exchange agreement between Baghdad and commercial
creditors who were owed money by the ousted regime.
Both developments should help Iraq win billions more in credit from both
sovereign and commercial lenders as it tries to establish a functioning
democracy in the face of a bloody insurgency.
"The Iraqi authorities were successful in promoting macro-economic stability
in 2005, despite the extremely difficult security environment," IMF deputy
managing director Takatoshi Kato said in a statement.
In Washington, senior democratic lawmakers welcomed an announcement made by
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during a trip to Iraq that 7,000 US
troops will be withdrawn from the country in the spring.
But congressman John Murtha, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, maintained his
demand for a full withdrawal.
"Our presence in Iraq continues to unify the insurgents against the US
forces ... We have to give the Iraqis a timetable to take charge of their
own destiny," he said.