BAGHDAD, 9 January 2005 — Politicians from Iraq’s Shiite majority, wary of the threat of civil war, are eager for Sunni Muslims to join the next government even if the once powerful minority community skips the elections. Two pre-eminent leaders heading a coalition of Shiite parties considered the favorite in the Jan. 30 polls told AFP they want Sunnis to have posts in the government regardless of the vote outcome.
The attitude points to a realization among the country’s 15-million Shiites, poised to rule Iraq for the first time in their history, that they have to find accommodation with Sunni Muslims who have lost political influence with the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Iraq’s Shiite political front-runner Abdel Aziz Hakim, from the Supreme Council for the Shiite Revolution in Iraq, and Jawad Maliky, the No. 2 in the powerful Dawa party, reached out to Sunni Muslims on Friday, saying the minority would be guaranteed posts in the next government.
“Whether the Sunnis have many or few seats in the next Parliament, we need the real participation of all,” said Hakim, the top candidate on the Unified Iraqi Alliance, a 228-member list of Shiite parties running for Parliament. “All must participate in the governmental authority and we will insist that they (Sunnis) be represented in the government, that they have posts and they should also have a voice in drafting the constitution and responsibilities in the government. This is what we are seeking to achieve,” Hakim said.
It was the bluntest comment to date from Hakim, a man judged with suspicion by many Sunnis for his two-decade sojourn in Iran, where he conducted a cross-border war against Saddam.
Maliky, the second in command in Dawa, one of Iraq’s oldest Shiite movements founded in the 1950s, also stretched out his hand in the spirit of political compromise. Maliky said he would be open to even guaranteeing seats for Sunnis in the new 275-seat assembly. “We are open to an accord between all parties involved including the United Nations that can provide temporary representation on the national assembly for some parts of the country that for some reason does not take part in the vote,” said.
He said he believed such a proposal could solve the impasse in the Sunni Muslim areas like Fallujah and Mosul, where the volatile insurgency has turned communities into war zones. “We are talking about a handful of areas including Fallujah and this means a few seats on the assembly,” said Maliky, who led clandestine cells that infiltrated Iraq between 1980 and 1991 to carry out attacks against Saddam’s regime.
“This would tie us over for a year until we can hold elections at the end of 2005 and hopefully in a more secure environment.” A senior US official in Iraq noted a remarkable sea shift in the views of the two Shiite powerhouses, once sworn enemies of Saddam’s Baath regime. Although no outcome is guaranteed, the official said he was encouraged.
“Al-Hakim and SCIRI are always thought to be the hardest line Shiite party. My sense is that Al-Hakim is thinking hard about how to get Sunni Arabs to buy in after the elections.” Hakim’s move toward moderation cuts deep because it is coming from the closed halls of Shiite clerical power in the shrine city of Najaf.
“I take it seriously because a number of sources who talk to the people down in Najaf say the Marjaiya (the religious authority) down there are also thinking about it,” the official said.
Meanwhile, all of the members of the High Election Commission in the Sunni city of Samarra resigned yesterday in support of a call to boycott elections from the Muslim Clerics Association, one of the most influential Sunni groups in Iraq. “All the 24 members of the commission in Samarra have resigned to support the association’s call,” a member of the commission who refused to give his name told Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
On Friday, a senior election official in Baghdad said only a few election officials have resigned so far despite insurgent intimidation and calls to boycott the poll. Among those who have resigned was the senior election official for the northern city of Mosul. Police in Tikrit said three senior administrators in the provincial administration of Salahaddin were kidnapped on Friday evening during a visit to the southern city Latifiyah.
