We’ve been trying to get our heads around the significance of Saturday’s announcement that one of Iraq’s largest Sunni political parties is going to boycott the forthcoming national elections. The New York Times plays down the story. Juan Cole also thinks that the effect on the election will not be devastating, but he considers the longer-term maneouvres and probable benefits to the leading Shi’a factions:
The Los Angeles Times reports that the National Dialogue Front, a secular party led by Salih Mutlak, is calling for a boycott of the March 7 parliamentary elections in Iraq. The NDF has 11 seats in parliament, but Mutlak and another prominent party member were among over 500 candidates (out of over 6000) for parliament disqualified as too close to the prohibited Baath Party. Many of those excluded from running had openly criticized the provision in the Iraqi constitution that bans members of the Baath Party from public life. The purge of Mutlak has been widely condemned in Iraq as unfair, since he left the party in the late 1970s.
Tags: Accountability and Justice Committee, Al-Hayat, Baath Party, Iran, Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Juan Cole, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Liz Sly, Los Angeles Times, National Dialgoue Front, National Iraqi Alliance, Salih Mutlak, Saudi Arabia
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