One of Iraq’s two most prominent Sunni politicians has withdrawn his party from next month’s general election and called on Sunni voters to boycott the polls — a move that has raised fears of a repeat of the disastrous 2005 ballot.
Iraq’s once dominant Sunni Muslims shunned the last election en masse after the overthrow of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, fueling a lethal insurgency that took three years to quell. It would be disastrous if they also refused to take part in this election, which is being billed as a critical test of Iraq’s postwar recovery, and the US military’s claim that its more than 100,000 soldiers in the country are no longer needed.
The call for a boycott was made by Saleh al-Mutlaq, a minister of parliament who leads the National Dialogue Front, a leading Sunni party. It is part of a cross-sectarian Iraqiya electoral alliance, formed to contest the March 7 ballot.
Al-Mutlaq was on a list of 511 individuals banned from standing in elections because of their connection to the old Baathist regime. The list has now been reduced to 145. Ahmed Chalabi, the former Pentagon favorite, has been aggressively defending the list as part of a new de-Baathification drive through a body called the Accountability and Justice Commission. Al-Mutlaq had lobbied unsuccessfully for the personal ban to be overturned. He said he had no links to the Baath party, of which he was a member during the 1970s and early 1980s. But his pleas have been ignored.
“The National Dialogue Front has made its final stand,” party spokesman Haidar al-Mullah said. “It will boycott the election, but it will stay part of the political process. The call is open for other political parties to take the same stand as our front. The whole issue is not related to [the candidate ban], rather the unsuitable atmosphere of this election.”
Successive US administrations have staunchly backed the de-Baathification drive. However, Christopher Hill, the US ambassador, and General Ray Odierno, head of US forces in the country, have been less convinced by the Accountability and Justice Commission, which they see as an Iranian effort to undermine Sunni political power. They have accused Chalabi and his adviser, Ali Faisal al-Lami, of doing Iran’s bidding, and believe Iraq’s powerful neighbor is making a new push to influence Iraqi affairs ahead of an expected US withdrawal — which is due to begin about six weeks after the poll.
There was no immediate response from rival Sunni parties to al-Mutlaq’s call. If other Sunni groups also withdraw, there are fears of a dangerous political vacuum after the election.
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