Iraq prepares for historic election

Troops were in place, the borders were closed and the ballots were ready today on the eve of Iraqi parliamentary elections that the US hopes will build democracy and set the stage for American troops to begin returning home.

Even though Sunni insurgent groups vowed not to attack the polls, angry Shiites protested a televised slur on the country’s religious leadership. Rumours spread of ballots smuggled in from Iran – signs of the sectarian tensions that threaten the nation’s future and the Bush administration strategy.

Up to 15 million Iraqis were to choose 275 members of the new parliament from among 7,655 candidates running on 996 tickets, representing Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish, Turkomen and sectarian interests across a wide political spectrum.

Polls open at 0400 GMT tomorrow and close at 1400 GMT. Some preliminary returns were expected late tomorrow, but final, complete returns could take days if not weeks.

“Let us make tomorrow a national celebration, a day of national unity and victory over terrorism and those who oppose our democratic march,” President Jalal Talabani told a nationwide television audience.

Election of the new parliament, which will serve a full four-year term, marks the final step in the US blueprint for democracy, climaxing a process that included the transfer of sovereignty last year, selection of an interim parliament on January 30 and ratification of the new constitution in October. The new parliament well name a government, including a new prime minister.

For the Bush administration, the stakes were nearly as high as for the Iraqis. A successful election would represent a much needed political victory at a time of growing doubts about the war within the US public.

“We are in Iraq today because our goal has always been more than the removal of brutal dictator,” President George W. Bush told the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars. “It is to leave a free and democratic Iraq in his place.”

A coalition of Shiite religious parties, which dominate the current government, is expected to win the biggest number of parliament seats.

But the Bush administration hopes that more Sunni Arabs, who form the backbone of the insurgency, will win seats and help establish a government that can lure Sunnis away from the insurgency.

That would make it possible for the US and its international partners to begin to draw down their troops next year.

In the January 30 elections, many Sunnis boycotted the election, enabling the rival Shiites and Kurds to dominate the current legislature – a move that sharpened communal tensions and fuelled the Sunni-led insurgency.

This time, however, more Sunnis Arabs are in the race, and changes in the election law to allocate the majority of seats by district all but guarantee strong Sunni representation.

More than 1,000 Sunni clerics called on their followers to vote, and major insurgent groups, including al Qaida in Iraq and the Islamic Army in Iraq, have pledged not attack polling stations, even though they oppose the political process. Insurgent threats kept many Sunnis at home in January, even though overall nationwide turnout was nearly 60%.

Nevertheless, tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers and police will guard polling stations, with US and other coalition forces standing ready to intervene in case of trouble. US troops and sniffer dogs checked thousands of polling stations this week before sealing them and handing over control to Iraqi police.

As a sign of Sunni interest, mosques, walls, houses and lamp posts in Baghdad’s Sunni district of Azamiyah were festooned with posters of Sunni candidates. In January, few people in Azamiyah voted, and some polling stations didn’t even open.

The International Republic Institute, a pro-democracy group linked to the US Republican party, predicted today that about 93% of eligible voters would show up at the polls.

Still, US officials warned that a successful election alone will not end the insurgency. That will take a government capable of reconciling Iraq’s disparate groups. US officials are anxious to avoid protracted negotiations to choose a new prime minister and Cabinet – a process that dragged for three months after the January ballot.

“I think the elections are a positive step but it not be enough to ensure stability, more steps need to be taken. There should be a good government that represents all Iraqis and the security forces also should be formed by all Iraqi sects,” US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told Al-Jazeera television.

Khalizad’s comments about the security forces referred to long-standing Sunni Arab complaints that the Shiite-dominated army and police have abused Sunnis. Yesterday, Khalilzad told reporters that at least 120 abused prisoners had been found in two detention centres run by the ministry since November.

On the eve of the election, sectarian tensions swelled over what Shiite political parties considered an offensive remark made by an Iraqi Shiite panelist during a talk show on Al-Jazeera television. Panelist Fadel al-Rubaei said Shiite clerics should not take part in politics, and he accused them of conspiring with the Americans against the mostly Sunni insurgents.

The statements angered many Shiites, including many who did not see the Al-Jazeera broadcast but saw reports of it on an Iraqi station, Al-Furat, owned by the biggest Iraqi Shiite party which used the report to fire up supporters on the election eve.

Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, condemned violations against Shiite religious leaders “broadcast by one of satellite channels known for its hatred to the Iraqi people.”

Hours later, thousands of people chanted anti-Al-Jazeera slogans in the streets of the Baghdad neighbourhoods of Sadr City and Karradah, and in major cities throughout the Shiite south.

In Nasiriyah, Shiite protesters set fire to a building housing the offices of former interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite, and the Iraqi Communist Party.

“The headquarters was attacked by militiamen who broke inside and set fire to the building. This is a terrorist act that contradicts democracy and this is the reason we are calling for eliminating the militia groups in Iraq,” Allawi spokesman Thaer al-Naqib told The Associated Press.

Officials at the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera were not available for comment. But Baghdad correspondent Atwar Bahjat said that she resigned from her job “in protest of what the guest of the station said.”