Sponsored Content
« RETRACTED: "HELP--COLD:" Global Warming Activist Freezes to Death in Antarctica | Main | Shocker: Premiums Expected to Rise 17% for Young Adults in First Year of Mandate »
March 29, 2010

Iraq De-Baathification Commission Moves to Strike Three Winning Candidates from Allawi's Coalition, Erasing Allawi's Slim Lead Over Maliki

This could get ugly -- but hopefully comity will prevail.

Six winning candidates in Iraq's parliamentary elections will be stripped of their votes and lose their seats — which would cost secular politician Ayad Allawi's bloc its narrow victory — if a federal court upholds a broad purge of candidates who are suspected of past involvement with the late dictator Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party, Iraqi officials said Monday.

The six winners are among 52 candidates who were disqualified just before the March 7 elections by Iraq's Accountability and Justice Commission, the controversial government body charged with "de-Baathification" efforts. Iraq's election commission allowed them to run, choosing to shelve the divisive matter rather than delay the elections. An Iraqi court will have at least two weeks to rule on the challenge.

If it succeeds, the effort to deny Allawi his bloc's slim victory could threaten hopes that the elections would pave the way to a new unity government, ease secular and ethnic tensions and open the way for the Obama administration to speed the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq as it sends more to Afghanistan.

The latest push to disqualify the candidates comes after Allawi's Iraqiya bloc won a narrow victory over incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's State of Law coalition. At least three of the winning candidates are on Allawi's slate, so Iraqiya would lose its two-seat lead over Maliki's bloc if a federal court sided with the Accountability and Justice Commission to strike the votes rather than removing the candidates and allowing substitutes from the same bloc to take the seats.

The most important thing here, to me, is that Maliki passes power peacefully over to Alawi. Nothing else is more important in a democracy than the confidence that votes matter and power can and should change hands.


digg this
posted by Ace at 04:56 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
Lurking Cheshirecat: "back to content ..."

Cicero (@cicero43): "John Muir was the schnizz. ..."

Lurking Cheshirecat: "Missed. ..."

AlaBAMA: "Someone farted in the elevator. ..."

Bertram Cabot, Jr.: "The House passed the Debt bill. ..."

AZ deplorable moron: "Good evening CBD! Hope you have had an excellent ..."

Diogenes: "Too five. ..."

Nightwatch: "You all are beyond tazing the funny bone tonight.. ..."

Walter Freeman: "Mhmm. ..."

Cicero (@cicero43): "Wooo hooo! ..."

AlaBAMA: "Democracy is saved. Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) ..."

AZ deplorable moron: " Circus continues. Posted by: AlaBAMA at May 31, ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64