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[casi-analysis] Popular elections in Iraq



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Below is an excerpt from James Longley, Electronic Iraq, 11 February 2004,
giving a candid discription of movement in Nasiriyah to elect leaders through
direct elections, despite the assurances from the UN and US occupation
authorities that it can not be done. - Bob Allen

"It was clear from the meeting that the local parties in Nasiriyah not
only have the organizational capability to conduct their own
elections without the UN / U.S. supervision or interference - they
are determined to do it. Everyone involved in Iraqi politics is
acutely aware of U.S. desires to have a new Iraqi government
appointed by appointees of the United States, and they have
apparently decided to take matters into their own hands to prevent
such an outcome."

http://electroniciraq.net/news/1364.shtml
Travels in the South
James Longley, Electronic Iraq, 11 February 2004

Nasiriyah is the fourth-largest city in Iraq and the Euphrates River
runs through it. Like most cities in the south, the population here
is almost all Shia Muslim. Nasiriyah was always a thorn in the side
of Saddam Hussein's regime; many people here rose up against the
Baathist government in 1991. The city and surrounding towns are
filled with people who have only recently returned from exile in
neighboring Iran or Saudi Arabia, those who fled persecution after
the failed 1991 uprising.

I came to Nasiriyah filming the story of a sheik in Moqtada Sadr's
religious-political movement. Moqtada's popularity stems from his
father, Mohammed Al Sadr, Iraq's most prominent Shia cleric, who was
assassinated along with his two eldest sons -- almost certainly by
Saddam's regime -- in 1999. Young Moqtada Sadr escaped to Iran, and
returned to Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion to take up his
father's mantle.

Less compromising than Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the senior
Shia leader who has shaken U.S. plans for a new Iraqi government
appointed indirectly by the United States by calling for direct
elections, Moqtada Sadr has rejected the idea of waiting for national
elections held under the auspices of the United Nations. Sadr's
followers and many Iraqi political parties are now moving to hold
direct local elections and remove the city advisory councils and
mayors put into power by the United States following the war. This
call has been taken up in Najaf, the city holy to all Shia Muslims,
where elections are being planned for February 17. Similar moves are
starting to be made in smaller towns, such as the neighboring Al
Garraf.

Everyone agrees that having a city leadership appointed by the U.S.
is intolerable. Two weeks ago thousands of protestors arrived in
front of the Nasiriyah Mayor's office and demanded the Mayor's
resignation on the grounds that he was appointed by the Americans,
and therefore illegitimate. The standoff has apparently cooled down
in anticipation of direct local elections; the U.S.-appointed mayor
of Nasiriyah is no longer showing up to work.

"We want to turn that building back into a library." I was told in
Sadr's office. "We explained to the Mayor that because he was an
American appointee he should expect people to come and remove him."

Today a meeting of political parties was held in Nasiriyah to
organize the process by which local elections will take place. There
were no journalists present, but I was invited to attend and came
away generally impressed. Though the party representatives disagreed
at times, they resolved all their issues through an intense debate
lasting almost two hours. Direct elections of the mayor and city
council of Nasiriyah was the driving issue, and they all agreed that
no political appointments would be allowed; The new political
leadership would be chosen democratically at the ballot box.

Discussions were held to decide whether the new city council should
have quotas for different religious factions, such as Shia or Sunni
Muslims; In the end it was decided that anyone could run for office
irrespective of religious affiliation, as long as they had not been a
Baathist collaborator under Saddam. Details like whether a candidate
should be required to have finished university were also debated: In
the end they decided not to require a university degree because so
many otherwise qualified candidates were either in prison or in
hiding during the latter part of Saddam's reign. The party
representatives drafted a memo regarding elections which they plan to
distribute to all political parties in Nasiriyah.

It was clear from the meeting that the local parties in Nasiriyah not
only have the organizational capability to conduct their own
elections without the UN / U.S. supervision or interference - they
are determined to do it. Everyone involved in Iraqi politics is
acutely aware of U.S. desires to have a new Iraqi government
appointed by appointees of the United States, and they have
apparently decided to take matters into their own hands to prevent
such an outcome.


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