February 14, 2005

Shi'ite alliance tops vote in Iraq

A Shi'ite alliance endorsed by the nation's top cleric will command a narrow majority in Iraq's new national assembly, according to final results released yesterday from the historic Jan. 30 elections.
   
 A coalition of Kurdish parties placed second with about one-quarter of the seats and will be a crucial power broker in the 275-seat assembly, which will name a government and write a permanent constitution. Both actions require agreement by a two-thirds majority.

A secular party led by Prime Minister Iyad Allawi came a disappointing third with about 15 percent of the seats, and President Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer's secular Sunni party got five seats.
[I'm sure there was lots of talk that Allawi was the "American puppet," even though I don't think that's really the case.
I'd like to see him retain a major leadership role in whatever government comes next because I think he governs fairly and in the interest of all Iraqis.
He "gets" the whole democracy thing.--J.T.]
[...]
Shi'ite leaders, however, quickly promised to find ways to include willing Sunnis in drafting a constitution.
    
"Iraqis want freedom and democracy," said Hussein Shahrestani, a Canadian-educated nuclear scientist who played a key role in creating the winning United Iraqi Alliance.

We are even more insistent now than before that [the government] should be an exercise of unity and participation. We need a government of national unity."
   
 In Washington, President Bush congratulated the Iraqi people "for defying terrorist threats and setting their country on the path of democracy and freedom...."]
[...]

 Ayatollah al-Sistani, who has a huge following in the Shi'ite world, had mandated participation in the elections through a fatwa, or religious edict considered the equivalent of the word of God.
    
In northern Iraq, the Kurdish coalition, made up of former — and sometimes deadly — rivals handily won the polling in the northern city of Kirkuk, an oil-rich region populated by an uneasy mix of Turkmen, Kurds and Arabs.
    
News footage showed major celebrations by the Kurds, who are intent on claiming Kirkuk as their capital, despite strong pressure from neighboring countries and the United States.
[I'm not sure how "intent" they are on this--and the MSM, even the Washington Times, is always looking for trouble over there--but the Kurds have proved surprisingly cooperative since we initiated OIF and I hope that Kurdish independence will be no exception.--Jen]
    
Led by Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, the Kurds are demanding the office of president or prime minister and will seek a high degree of autonomy in the new constitution.

The United Iraqi Alliance also has insisted on choosing one of its own for the post of prime minister — where real political power will lie — though it is not clear which of its faction leaders would get the nod.
   
 Under Iraq's interim constitution, two-thirds of the assembly must agree on a president and two vice presidents. This presidential council, in turn, will name the prime minister and a Cabinet.
    
That means the alliance will have to make a deal with either the Kurds or with Mr. Allawi's group and one or two minor parties to secure the 184 assembly seats needed to name the government.
   
 Efforts also will have to be made to find a role for the Sunnis, who make up about 20 percent of the population, if the new government hopes to end a sense of disenfranchisement that is feeding the insurgency.

Sunni feelings of "disenfranchisement" aside, it sounds as if the Iraqi election went pretty smoothly.
Don't they sound a lot like our Democrats?
It's no surprise that the Shi'ites got the lion's share of the votes as they make up such a large part of the Iraqi population.
Good for the Kurds also that their candidates did so well, also in proportion to the percentage of Kurds in Iraq.
What's important is that the Iraqi voters themselves are happy with the process and perceive it to be accurate and fair and I'd say that definitely was the case!
Long live the new Free Iraq and now it's on to the Iraqi version of the Continental Congress!