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Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
THE GLOBE AND MAIL
DECEMBER 16, 2004
Campaign opens new chapter in Iraq
Parties, candidates
find getting ready
for Jan. 30 election
complex, confusing
BY LARRY KAPLOW, BAGHDAD
"
On the first official day of campaigning
for the country's crucial
January election, candidates were
trying to figure out just how ~o run,
confirming that democracy isn't
easy, particularly in a violenceracked
country short on experience.
, The Iraqi Islamic Party considered
a door-to-door campaign
aimed at reaching three million voters.
But the party, which claims to
bethe primary voice for Sunni Muslims,
has rejected the idea for now
as too dangerous, especially when
many of their fellow Sunnis are calling
for an election boycott.
The campaign director at the National
Democratic Coalition, which
is trying to woo Iraq's middle class,
is trying to figure out if his party can
afford to spend $4,500 to produce
and run a 3D-second television spot.
And; in case any Shia voters might
be tempted, followers of Grand Ayatollah
Ali al-Sistani are spreading
the word that "votes are like gold"
and Shiites should not sell their voter-registration
forms, as is rumoured
to be occurring.
Iraqis have little familiarity with
elections with more than one candidate.
Undertheformerregime, Saddam
Hussein asked voters to give
him a yes or a no. In a surprise to no
one, he claimed a 100-per-cent yes
vote the last time ballots were cast,
in2002.
With that kind of electoral simplicity
a thing of the past, Iraqis now
finda complex field of nearly 80 politicalparties,
individuals and coalitions
vying for seats in a 275-member
parliament in an election
scheduled for Jan. 31.
The parliament will choose a
'prime minister and oversee the
drafting of a constitution ,that will
be voted on in another election, seleçtiplta
new government, by the
endof2005.
, ~ fjgure who will not have the
,ccynmon problems of too little
money and too little exposure is intetim
Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a
Iraqi Kurds register to vote yesterday
at a school in Irbil. Many who lined up
earlier this week were angry that theywere given inadequate papers.
secÙlar Shiite. He' announced his
candidacy at the head of a coalition
called The Iraqi List.
, Standing with some fellow minister~:
ft~rics and sheiks before a
large, slick backdrop showing Mr.
Allawi in profIle, he promised "very
strong leadership" to provide stability
to Iraq by eliminating poverty
and fighting terrorism.
He was escorted by his team of
U.S. bodyguards, and his announcement
enjoyed live coverage
on the U.S.-founded Iraqiya television
station, something sure to reinforce
complaints that he gets a special
edge from the biggest foreign
power.
Only a day before, Mr. Allawi
made headlines by promising to begin
war-crimes trials next week for
top aides to Mr. Hussein. The government
announced yesterday that
a possible first defendant is Ali Hassan
al-Majid, known as Chemical
Ali, for allegedly ordering poisongas
attacks on Iraqi Kurds in 1988.
Meanwhile, the Shia holy city of
Karbala was shaken by violence
when a ear bomb exploded at the
gates of a major downtown shrine,
killing seven. Wire services reported
that the target may have been a representative
of Ayatollah al-Sistani.
With Iraq mired in bloodshed, the '
interim government reliant on U.S.
and allied troops, and with electric- '
ity and gas shortages getting wo/se
'We are sitting on a sea of
oil but we don't have a
litre of gasoline, and
thats the result of this
interim government.'
Sherif Ali bin al-Hussein, a
member of the Iraqi royal
family overthrown in 1958,
who leads the Constitutional
Monarchy Party's list
in the capital, many candidates will
be trying to run as outsic:ters agclinst
Mr. Allawi and other leaders.
Campaigning is expected to be '
heavy in mosques, both Sunni and
Shia.
Even Iraq's royalty is getting in on
the act.
Sherif Ali bin al-Hussein, a member
of the Iraqi royal family overthrown
in 1958, leads the Constitutional
Monarchy Party's list.
"We are sitting on a sea of oil but
we don't have a litre of gasoline, and
that's the result of this interim government,"
Mr. al-Hussein said while
announcing his list this week. "If
people are happy about this, they
sho.uld vote for the government
list."
The Iraqi Islamic Party has undergone
election training by U.S. nonprofit
groups b~t is still officially
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