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Iraqis give PM vote of confidence
Sudarsan Raghavan and Ernesto Londono, Baghdad
February 7, 2009
IRAQI Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has posted significant victories in provincial elections, winning Baghdad and eight provinces in the Shiite south.
Official preliminary results suggest that those who backed Mr Maliki and his allies appeared to be voting for a strong central government and rewarding the Prime Minister for sending forces to fight Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City enclave.
Mr Maliki's State of Law list won 38 per cent of the votes in Baghdad and 37 per cent in Basra. But turnout in Baghdad in particular was as low as 40 per cent.
With the exception of these two provinces, Mr Maliki and his allies won by narrow margins and will need to build coalitions. The slender margins could allow other parties to come together in opposition.
Iraqis also appeared to favour politicians who have portrayed themselves as non-sectarian and opposed to the division of Iraq.
Some saw the support for Mr Maliki as a sign that people were tired of the Shiite religious parties that have ruled since 2005, although Mr Maliki's Dawa Party has long promoted the establishment of a government guided by Islamic law. In campaigning, he portrayed himself as a secular candidate and avoided the use of religious imagery.
"The people of Iraq are looking for security rather than looking for religious parties," said Kurdish politician Ala Talabani. "We are building a liberal country rather than an Islamic country."
The most surprising victory in the elections for 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces occurred in predominantly Sunni Anbar province, where a party led by Saleh Mutlaq, a secular Sunni Arab nationalist, won narrowly over a party led by US-backed tribal leaders as well as established Sunni politicians of the religious Iraqi Islamic Party.
Mr Mutlaq's party won 17.6 per cent of the votes while the tribal leaders, known as the Awakening, and the Islamic Party won 17.1 per cent and 15.9 per cent respectively.
Mr Mutlaq's party was among several Sunni Arab lists that posted victories, redistributing the balance of power, which Iraqi and US officials hope will foster national reconciliation. Most Sunnis boycotted the 2005 elections.
The results showed al-Hadba, a Sunni Arab party, won decisively in Nineveh province in the north, after campaigning to curb Kurdish expansion there.
In Diyala province, too, Sunni parties won the most votes in what had been a Shiite-controlled province, ushering in the most dramatic shift in sectarian power. In both Nineveh and Diyala, Kurdish groups came in second, setting the stage for greater Kurdish-Arab conflict.
In the south, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, led by cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, was the big loser. Supreme Council officials had predicted they would win outright in four provinces. That didn't happen.
Iraqis appeared to have voted against the Supreme Council for several reasons, including its religious leanings, its links to neighbouring Iran and its desire to create an autonomous Shiite region in the south.
Independent parties backed by the movement of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and its allies took second place in Baghdad, and posted strong showings in the south that could boost Sheikh Sadr's waning political influence. As coalitions form, the Sadrists could emerge as potential kingmakers.
WASHINGTON POST
Sudarsan Raghavan and Ernesto Londono, Baghdad
February 7, 2009
IRAQI Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has posted significant victories in provincial elections, winning Baghdad and eight provinces in the Shiite south.
Official preliminary results suggest that those who backed Mr Maliki and his allies appeared to be voting for a strong central government and rewarding the Prime Minister for sending forces to fight Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City enclave.
Mr Maliki's State of Law list won 38 per cent of the votes in Baghdad and 37 per cent in Basra. But turnout in Baghdad in particular was as low as 40 per cent.
With the exception of these two provinces, Mr Maliki and his allies won by narrow margins and will need to build coalitions. The slender margins could allow other parties to come together in opposition.
Iraqis also appeared to favour politicians who have portrayed themselves as non-sectarian and opposed to the division of Iraq.
Some saw the support for Mr Maliki as a sign that people were tired of the Shiite religious parties that have ruled since 2005, although Mr Maliki's Dawa Party has long promoted the establishment of a government guided by Islamic law. In campaigning, he portrayed himself as a secular candidate and avoided the use of religious imagery.
"The people of Iraq are looking for security rather than looking for religious parties," said Kurdish politician Ala Talabani. "We are building a liberal country rather than an Islamic country."
The most surprising victory in the elections for 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces occurred in predominantly Sunni Anbar province, where a party led by Saleh Mutlaq, a secular Sunni Arab nationalist, won narrowly over a party led by US-backed tribal leaders as well as established Sunni politicians of the religious Iraqi Islamic Party.
Mr Mutlaq's party won 17.6 per cent of the votes while the tribal leaders, known as the Awakening, and the Islamic Party won 17.1 per cent and 15.9 per cent respectively.
Mr Mutlaq's party was among several Sunni Arab lists that posted victories, redistributing the balance of power, which Iraqi and US officials hope will foster national reconciliation. Most Sunnis boycotted the 2005 elections.
The results showed al-Hadba, a Sunni Arab party, won decisively in Nineveh province in the north, after campaigning to curb Kurdish expansion there.
In Diyala province, too, Sunni parties won the most votes in what had been a Shiite-controlled province, ushering in the most dramatic shift in sectarian power. In both Nineveh and Diyala, Kurdish groups came in second, setting the stage for greater Kurdish-Arab conflict.
In the south, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, led by cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, was the big loser. Supreme Council officials had predicted they would win outright in four provinces. That didn't happen.
Iraqis appeared to have voted against the Supreme Council for several reasons, including its religious leanings, its links to neighbouring Iran and its desire to create an autonomous Shiite region in the south.
Independent parties backed by the movement of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and its allies took second place in Baghdad, and posted strong showings in the south that could boost Sheikh Sadr's waning political influence. As coalitions form, the Sadrists could emerge as potential kingmakers.
WASHINGTON POST