Sunnis marginalized in Iraqi politics

BAGHDAD, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Secular Iraqi lawmakers said Thursday the departure of a large coalition from the Iraq Accordance Front rendered the party ineffective amid political disputes.

A slate of independent lawmakers joined the Iraqi National Dialogue Council in withdrawing from the IAF in December, citing a failure of national obligation. The Sunni IAF pulled out of the Shiite-led government in 2007 over bitter political disputes but returned in July 2008.

Usama al-Negefi with the secular Iraqi National List said the IAF has a limited profile and diminished influence in the wake of the departures, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported Thursday.

The IAF has lobbied for the vacated parliamentary speaker's position since December.

"The Sunni bloc's grip on the Parliament's chairmanship is considered to be marginalizing the rest of the Sunni lawmakers, because the bloc holds 20 out of 70 Sunni lawmakers in the Parliament," he said.

Former Parliament Speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani resigned Dec. 23 in the wake of a row with lawmakers over the legal framework for the presence of non-U.S. troops in 2009.

Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni, said his counterparts had embraced IAF for the position of speaker.

Opposition lawmakers with the Sadrist Movement of anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr objected to the decision.

The political climate in Iraq is growing tense as the country prepares for provincial council elections Jan. 31.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/01/08/Sunnis_marginalized_in_Iraqi_politics/UPI-37621231448577/.