Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Iraqis shun sectarian and religious politics

February 4, 2009


Iraqis shun sectarian and religious politics

LEAKED unofficial results of the Jan.31 provincial elections in Iraq indicate that nationalists, secular parties, Sunnis, and Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's party have made mains at the expense of hard-line Shiite parties and separatist Kurds.
The final results of the elections would take a few more days to be known, with the various parties trying to form coalitions to assume power in the provincial coalitions.
The initial indications are positive for the future of Iraq because the hard-line Shiites represented by the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, and the Kurdish alliance do not want a strong central government in Baghdad. They want a weak central government which would be forced into ceding a great deal of federal power to provincial confederacies such as the Kurdistan Regional Government in the north and a planned autonomous federation of several Shiite-dominated provinces in the south.
On the other hand, the Da'wa party of Maliki and the Sunni groups want a strong central government and their posture is noted as positive for Iraqi nationalism.
It is a safe assumption that Iraq, despite the low voter turnout for the provincial elections, is about to turn a major point in its post-Saddam Hussein history. The polls showed that Iranian influence in the country is weaning, given that one of the biggest losers in the voting was the pro-Iran Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. The setback for the Shiite separatist group could be partly attributed to the brutality of its Badr Brigade, which was responsible for thousands of killings since 2003.
Similarly the Kurds, who are steadily moving towards their goal of sedition from Iraq and an independent Kurdistan in the north, lost their grip of the Nineveh province. A Kurdish bloc was in power there since 2005 after the province's dominant Sunnis stayed away from voting in provincial elections. This time around, they realised the perils of boycotting polls and formed the Al Hadba party, which is said to have won 40 per cent of last week's vote.
The biggest relief is that the elections was not rigged — as opposed to the case in 2005 — in order to produce a victory for the ruling Shiite-Kurdish alliance against the Sunnis, secular Iraqis, and anti-establishment Shiites.
Of course, Maliki's Da'wa party does not belong to this category, but others in the group are ready to do business with him if he undertakes to play a fair and just game.
While we wait for the final and official results to be announced, it could be easily said that the people of Iraq are rejecting sectarian and religious politics. That is indeed one of the biggest milestones for the people of post-war Iraq. And it should also fit into the scheme of things of US President Barack Obama, if he is truly5 committed to delivering on his election promise to have the last American soldier out of Iraq in 16 months after assuming office.