Talabani asks court to settle election dispute

The Iraqi president has asked the country's Supreme Court to settle a political dispute over disqualification of scores of candidates from the March elections.

Iraq's Justice and Accountability Commission has barred about 500 candidates from running in the elections slated for 7th March 2010.

The commission earlier announced that some of the banned candidates had ties to the outlawed Baath party, which was once led by the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The Justice and Accountability Commission is responsible for ensuring that the party does not make a comeback in Iraqi politics. The body is headed by former Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Chalabi, who supported the US-led invasion of Iraq.

President Jalal Talabani said that there should be a distinction between hardcore supporters of Saddam Hussein and people who joined the Baath party for other reasons.

"We should not be unjust with them," Talabani went on to explain in Baghdad on Thursday.
He further asked the Iraqi Supreme Court to rule on the legitimacy of the panel.

"We asked in an official letter to judge Madhat al-Mahmud [president of the Iraqi Supreme Court] that he rule on the legality of the integrity and accountability committee. Our question is: 'Is the organization that took this decision legal?'"

The commission's decision has to be approved by parliament.

Meanwhile on Thursday thousands took to the streets of the shrine city of Najaf in support of the ban.

Demonstrators held banners proclaiming: "Baathists and Nazis are two faces of the same coin," and "The return of the Baath is the return of attacks and prison."

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116767§ionid=351020201.