Iraqi council discusses call to ban candidates from election

IRAQ’S NATIONAL security council, the country’s highest political body, yesterday discussed a call to ban 15 political parties and candidates from standing in the March 7th parliamentary election on the grounds that they are tied to the outlawed Baath Party.

If accepted by the election commission, the proposal, put forward by a body charged with purging Baathists, would deny representation to both Sunni and secular Iraqis and torpedo any chance of national unity.

Saleh al-Mutlaq, the chief target of the ban, argued that the move was unconstitutional and said he would appeal to the courts.

His electoral ally, former premier Ayad Allawi, a Shia secularist whose Iraqiya List has 25 seats in parliament, is threatening to boycott the poll. Two other senior figures on the List are Iraqi vice-president Tariq al-Hashemi, a former member of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), and deputy prime minister Rafie al-Essawi.

Without Mr Mutlaq’s party, Iraqiya will remain a minority faction. However, a boycott by these four politicians would undermine the credibility of the election, polarise the country, and put an end to claims that Iraq’s post-war Shia and Kurdish rulers intend to create a pluralistic democratic system.

Mr Mutlaq, whose National Dialogue Front has 11 seats in the 275-seat assembly, was cleared to stand in the 2005 election. But Ali Lami, head of the de-Baathification panel, claimed new information revealed that Mr Mutlaq “is a Baathist and nominated himself as a Baathist”. Mr Mutlaq dismissed the allegation as “rubbish”.

“How could I nominate myself as a Baathist when I know that it is illegal? I am wiser than that,” he said. He admitted, however, that he empathised with former Baathists who committed no crimes but are excluded from office.

Supporters of Mr Mutlaq point out that Mr Lami was jailed by the US for a year on suspicion that he had connections with pro-Iranian Shia militias and only retained his post because there was no agreement on a successor. They say the charge surfaced after Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, paid a visit to Baghdad.

An Iraqi source told The Irish Times that Mr Mutlaq left the Baath Party and politics in 1977 when Saddam Hussein was consolidating his hold on power. With another former Baathist, Mr Mutlaq established a lucrative farming business in the south. The source said Mr Mutlaq “is a very rich man. But he did not make his money stealing from the people like those in the government today. Voters know this.”

The informant said the object of the ban was to restrict the field to parties rooted in religion. The dominant Shia sectarian factions, Dawa and the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), are prepared to tolerate the IPP because “it is a religious party, has no credibility and will lose votes”, he said.

He considered the ban a “pre-emptive strike” designed to “finish off” secular nationalists.

Mr Mutlaq “scares” the religious parties, Kurds and Iran, the source said. “People at rallies have been carrying his portrait. They agree with his criticisms of the government and are fed up with religious parties. The nationalist bloc could win more seats than the Kurds [who have 53] and insist on the presidency”, taking the post from Jalal Talabani, a Kurd.

Due to the split of the Shia vote between Dawa and SIIC, the front led by Mr Mutlaq and Mr Allawi could determine who will be the next prime minister.