BAGHDAD, 18 December 2005 — The main Arab Sunni alliance that contested Iraq’s election said yesterday it had been a success, fueling US hopes peaceful politics will help pave the way for a troop withdrawal.
Washington and its allies in the Shiite and Kurdish-led government have been trying to lure Sunnis into the political process, hoping to undercut support for the Sunni insurgency.
“The election process succeeded ... Thank God there were only a few cases in a huge country where there is death and violence,” Adnan Al-Dulaimi, leader of one of the parties in the Iraqi Accordance Front, told a news conference.
The US military and rebels have warned that a truce during Thursday’s election that allowed Sunnis to vote did not mean attacks aimed at removing US troops would end.
But US President George W. Bush was buoyed by the millions who turned out to vote and he praised them for “defying the terrorists and refusing to be cowed into not voting.” In stark contrast to bloody polls in January, the election was largely peaceful, with turnout swelled by the participation of Sunnis sidelined by a previous boycott. Iraqi electoral officials do not expect final poll results for at least two weeks.
The ruling Shiite bloc is expected to face fierce competition from US-backed secular politician Iyad Allawi. Members of Allawi’s Iraqi National List told a news conference there were violations at several polling stations, including Iraqis voting under the names of dead people.
“Saad Kassim Hussein and Kassim Hussein in the Qabla district of Basra are dead but people voted in their names in more than one center,” said Wael Abdel Latif, a judge and supporter of Allawi’s list.
Independent Electoral Commission chief Hussein Hendawi told a news conference that there would be no need for recounting of votes in any polling station after he was asked about complaints of violations in the former rebel stronghold of Fallujah.
The big Sunni turnout means the new government will probably consist of a broader coalition than the current one between Shiite Islamists and Kurds, raising the possibility that a more diverse leadership could ease sectarian tensions. Fresh efforts to stabilize Iraq after more than two years of suicide bombings, shootings and kidnappings will be set against the background of complex negotiations to form a new government.
The smooth election could take the sting out of criticism of Bush, who is seeking to bolster support for the war amid low public approval ratings, concern over the rising US death toll and demands from some Democrats for a phased redeployment of US troops.
In the wake of the election, US forces in Iraq are likely to shrink from a current 155,000 to their pre-election total of 138,000 by early February. But other reductions are contingent on US commanders deciding that Iraqi forces are trained sufficiently to fight the insurgency on their own. In a shift in mood, insurgents urged Iraqis to vote in the election and promised to protect them from the kind of violence that killed 40 people in January polls.
“The resistance did not allow any side to interfere and they stuck by their promise and we thank them in the name of the Iraqi Accordance Front,” said Dulaimi, one of the fiercest critics of the Iraqi government and US occupation.
Shiites and Sunni Arabs staged rallies yesterday to champion their legislative candidates, while Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari paid a visit to the country’s top Shiite cleric. As Jaafari arrived at Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani’s residence in Najaf, hundreds of demonstrators chanted support for Jaafari’s political coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance.
They also slammed the pan-Arab television channel Al-Jazeera for allegedly slandering Sistani during a televised debate.
In Baghdad, dozens of Sunni Arabs who backed Dulaimi and his Iraqi Islamic Party demonstrated outside his office. “Our soul and our blood, we sacrifice for you Adnan,” and “Shiites, Sunnis, brothers together, this is our country,” they shouted.
Meanwhile, the German government believes that Bavarian archaeologist Susanne Osthoff, kidnapped last month in Iraq with her driver, is still alive, a weekly magazine reports in its edition to appear tomorrow.
