Election campaign starts in Iraq amid fears of fraud - Summary

Baghdad - Over 6,000 candidates Friday launched their campaigns for Iraq's parliamentary elections set for March 7, amid fears of fraud and bribery by candidates who want to buy people's votes. Campaign posters and banners were seen across the different provinces from the early hours of Friday, while hundreds of people spread out on the streets to distribute campaign literature for the candidates.

A total of 6,172 candidates are vying for the 325 seats up for election in parliament.

Media outlets affiliated to major parties started advertising their party's electoral programs and displaying pictures of candidates, while newspapers were expected to publish detailed articles on the progress of the election campaign.

A Shiite Iraqi cleric called on candidates and blocs to comply with the rules of the electoral propaganda and not to try to affect voters through dishonest means.

"Candidates and political entities must adopt a realistic and feasible programs, which would make people vote for them," Sheikh Abdel Mahdi al-Karbalai told worshipers during the Friday sermon in Imam Hussein mosque in Karbala.

"They should stay away of unrealistic promises that lack credibility as well defamation because it is unacceptable and immoral," added al-Karbalai, who is a confidant of Iraq's most senior Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

In Mosul, Mai Nour al-Din, principal of al-Watan secondary school, said that the school received huge amounts boxes full of bags or notebooks. "Each box carried the name of party that sent this trying to buy the votes of the people," she added.

Abdel-Khaliq al-Dabagh, the chief of the electoral commission's office in the northern city of Mosul said that there is a committee that is investigating the complaints received concerning candidates bribing voters.

"The commission has severe penalties on political entities that tries to bribe voters anywhere in Mosul," he added.

Campaigning will continue until March 5, in one of the shortest election campaigns since the fall of Saddam Hussein in the US-led invasion in 2003.

"The time remaining is enough for election campaigns," said Rashid al-Azzawi, parliament member representing the Iraqi Accord Front.

"The electoral process will be difficult, and citizens should not leave the boxes empty and give the chance for others to fill it themselves," said al-Azzawi, adding that forgery is possible in even the most democratic countries all over the world.

The start of the campaigning was postponed about a week by the electoral commission to allow for more time to settle the question of whether a group of candidates who had been barred from the election should be allowed to run.

Last month, the Accountability and Justice Commission blocked some 500 candidates from participating because of their alleged connections to the former ruling Baath Party.

"The Baath Party is a party of conspiracy and an underground party," alleged Ahmed al-Jalabi, Chairman of the Accountability and Justice Commission, an independent body which replaced the de-Baathification Committee.

"Article 7 of the constitution states that it is not allowed to take part in the political process or public life under any name," he added in remarks to the German Press Agency dpa.

"The presence of Baathists in the elections could lead to more negative atmosphere during the elections... the majority of the Iraqi public opinion is against the Baath and its participation in power," said.

The judicial electoral commission canceled the ban and described it as "illegal and unconstitutional." At first, the appeals court said that the 511 candidates should be allowed to stand for election in the meantime, because reviewing their files would take some time.

Yet under political pressure, it was announced that all reviews would be finished before the campaigning began.

While many candidates were allowed to run, the appeals of others were rejected, including two prominent Sunni members of parliament, Saleh al-Mutlaq and Dhafir al-Ani. That decision was expected to fuel tensions between the Shiite-led government and Sunnis.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/308939,election-campaign-starts-in-iraq-amid-fears-of-fraud--summary.html.