Iraqi parliament Sets October Date For Election, No
Election In Southern Kurdistan
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 14, 2008
BAGHDAD - Parliament cleared the way yesterday for provincial elections this
year that could give Sunnis a stronger voice and usher in vast changes to Iraq's
power structure.
The new law, which set the vote for Oct. 1, is one of the most sweeping reforms
pushed by the Bush administration and signals that Iraq's politicians finally
may be ready for small steps toward reconciliation. Passage of benchmark reforms
on healing the country's sectarian and ethnic rifts - along with a reduction in
violence - were key goals of the 30,000-strong U.S. troop increase the Bush
administration ordered early last year.
Violence has dropped markedly, but political progress lagged until the logjam
broke yesterday by the narrowest margins.
The outcome of the October elections is likely to reshape Iraq's political map.
Sunnis, who sat out 2005 elections, could claim a much stronger role in
political affairs. Among majority Shias, it could be a key test of strength for
factions fighting for control in the oil-rich south.
The Bush administration hailed the law's passage. "Many said that Iraq's
communities couldn't relate to each other. Their grievances, their distrusts
were so profound, they couldn't reach fundamental compromises. Well, we've never
believed that that was a correct assessment," David Satterfield, senior adviser
to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said.
Debate on the provincial elections was raucous and ended in a tie, broken by
parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni. He threatened to disband the
legislature Tuesday night and call early elections because lawmakers failed to
compromise or even maintain a quorum.
The law was bundled together with the $48- billion 2008 budget. Kurds, who
operate from a semiautonomous region in the north, insisted on the move, fearing
they might otherwise be double-crossed on a deal that lets them keep their 17
percent share of the national budget. The law calls for new elections in all of
Iraq's provinces, except those in the Kurdistan region.
Radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was said to strongly back it as a means of
unseating rival politicians of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, who now have a
lock on power in Shia provinces.
Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, was said to back the provincial election
law because it was widely believed the al-Sadr faction would be the big winner
in Shiite provinces - reducing the power of al-Hakim, who is the Iraqi leader's
main rival.
