BAGHDAD: Iraq’s electoral commission will decide within days whether to ban 15 political parties from running in March polls because their leaders allegedly have links to former dictator Saddam Hussein, a spokesman said Saturday.
The move could threaten attempts to draw former supporters of the insurgency into the political process, a key plank in the US strategy to stabilize the country as American troops withdraw.
Judge Qassim Al-Aboudi, a spokesman for the Independent High Electoral Commission, said the body had received complaints over 15 political parties from a parliamentary committee dedicated to rooting out high-level supporters of the former regime.
The whole process of “de-Baathification,” named after the former ruling party, began shortly after the US-led invasion, and has resulted in the firing of thousands of Iraqis, mostly Sunnis, from the civil service and education professions.
However, the electoral body had not yet received its final formal report from the Accountability and Justice Committee, he said. It was expected imminently and the commission would make a decision within one or two days, he said.
After the commission publishes its ruling in Iraqi newspapers, candidates and parties will have three days to appeal the decision before a panel of three judges specially appointed to deal with electoral matters, he said.
Analysts say the promise of political inclusion was a key part of persuading the militias to change sides.
Sunni politician Saleh Al-Mutlaq has already said he is on the list because his popularity threatens the Shiite dominated government. He heads the second-largest bloc of Sunni seats in Parliament and is building an alliance with former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and current Vice President Tariq Al-Hashemi.
In a possible sign of the heightened tensions, gunmen attacked a member of the parliamentary committee as he drove his private car in eastern Baghdad, two police officials said. The man was wounded and his brother was killed. It was not immediately clear if the attack was related to the man’s work.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
Security crackdown
Meanwhile, security forces confiscated hundreds of rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition and other military gear in a crackdown on private security contractors in Iraq, officials said on Saturday.
Police raided three locations in Baghdad on Friday, a week after Iraqi authorities were incensed by a US judge’s decision to throw out charges against five Blackwater Worldwide security guards accused of killing over a dozen Iraqi civilians in 2007.
Officials said they are targeting private security companies that are no longer legally licensed to operate in Iraq.
“All those companies with their work permits expired are not allowed to move one meter inside Baghdad, or own one piece of weaponry,” Baghdad security spokesman Qassim Al-Moussawi said.
He would not reveal how many unlicensed contractors were on the target list, or their names.
