KurdistanObserver.com

Zebari Interview : Shi'ites Post-Ballot Dominance Exaggerated

AMMAN- Reuters-Jan 7, 2005-Sunni Arab fears that Shi'ites would dominate Iraq after Jan. 30 elections are unfounded because the ballot will be a first step on the road to democracy, Iraq's foreign minister said on Friday.

"I believe these fears about the Shi'ites are exaggerated and misplaced," Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters in Amman.

Zebari said Iraq's majority Shi'ites deserved to flex their muscles after years of political exclusion under Saddam Hussein's Sunni-based rule.

"They had been marginalised and excluded from the process and this is their chance really to participate," said Zebari, himself a Kurd.

In a historic turnaround, the elections are almost certain to produce a parliament dominated by Iraq's majority Shi'ites that will choose a transitional government and draft a constitution.

Iraq's second general elections by the end of the year would be more decisive in shaping Iraq's future, Zebari said.

"It is the second elections that will count in December 2005. This (Jan. 30) election is not about who is going to govern Iraq," he said.

The political arrangements since Saddam was toppled in 2003 made it difficult for any group among Iraq's ethnic mix to again monopolise power, said Zebari.

"The influence of any winning group over writing the constitution and deciding the future of the country is not total. There are checks and balances," he added.

"A new, permanent constitution to be written should have the consent of all the communities and be written by consensus, not dictated by one group," Zebari said.

Zebari dismissed fears the election outcome could worsen sectarian rifts and push Iraq towards civil war.

"For a year or more we have heard that Iraq was going to disintegrate and indulge in civil war and fragment and none of that has happened. In my view this election will consolidate national unity, not fracture the country," he said.

Zebari said Western-style democracy taking place in post-war Iraq was at stake if elections were delayed, as demanded by many Sunni groups and leaders.

"I think there should not be any delay or changes of the timing, mainly because all the other steps in the political process depend on those elections -- move a cornerstone of this political process and the rest will collapse," he added.

Zebari said die-hard elements among the Sunni minority that dominated Iraqi politics for eight decades had to adjust.

"They have not been accustomed to being partners in governing Iraq ... The reality of the new Iraq is different from Saddam's Iraq. They have to grasp this reality," Zebari added.