The change came as Shiite parties held protests and vowed to purge Baath loyalists. It took some wind out of a furor that has stoked tensions before the March 7 vote, and parliament delayed a planned debate on the issue as a result.
The panel decided it had made a mistake thinking it needed to consider the entire list of nearly 500 candidates instead of just 177 politicians who appealed, said Falah Shanshal, a senior lawmaker. It will examine the appeals before the vote, he said.
Fanning fears of a Baathist revival might benefit Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and other Shiite leaders, as it could win back voters who might be leaning toward secular, cross-confessional groups, like ex-prime minister Ayad Allawi’s.
“We should not stand here with our hands tied during this sensitive period. We should take revenge for our martyrs, prisoners, the displaced and the homeless left by the former regime,” Baghdad provincial governor Salah Abdul-Razzaq, a senior member of Maliki’s Dawa party, told protesters.
“We will de-Baathify the Baghdad administration,” he said, adding that the Baath party “and its instruments Al-Qaeda” were behind recent bomb attacks that have killed dozens of Iraqis in Baghdad and Kerbala.
Local government leaders in Basra affiliated with Dawa and the other main Shiite blocs, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI) and Moqtada Al-Sadr’s movement, made similar vows at a rally to purge the city of Baath sympathizers.
The furor has already led to a delay in the start of election campaigning to Feb. 12 from Feb. 7, although that did not stop Sunday’s rallies from looking like campaign events.
The focus on Baathists benefits the ruling Shiite parties as it distracts attention from corruption, still creaky public services like power and security breaches that have allowed several major suicide bomb attacks in recent months.
Maliki has staked much of his re-election hopes on being credited for a sharp fall in violence over the past two years. The Baath spotlight also unites Iraq’s Shiite factions.
