Politicians argue over votes cast for 55 barred candidates

Baghdad: Top Iraqi politicians tangled on Tuesday over how and whether to count votes for 55 candidates who were barred from running a day before Sunday's parliamentary election.

The clash has the potential to taint the legitimacy of the vote — which US officials hailed as a historic milestone — and inflame supporters of a coalition that appears to have done well in secular and Sunni communities.

A commission run by Shiite politicians empowered to screen government officials for ties to Saddam Hussain's outlawed Baath Party disqualified the candidates, most of whom belong to the Iraqiya List of former prime minister Eyad Allawi.

The Justice and Accountability Commission had previously barred roughly 500 candidates from running in a process that many diplomats and analysts described as arbitrary, legally dubious and heavily politicised. The newly disqualified candidates were appointed to replace names from the initial list.

If the votes for the newly disbarred candidates are annulled, it could give the Iraqiya coalition powerful ammunition to allege that rival politicians, including some in the camp of Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, rigged the vote.

"It will be a very violent reaction," Allawi said on Tuesday in an interview. "A lot of violence will take place and God knows how this will end. I will tell you there is already an existing feeling that there was widespread rigging and widespread intimidation."

Alarming

The spat has alarmed US and UN officials, who fear it could make it harder for defeated candidates to accept the outcome, and could ultimately trigger violence.

"It's something we're watching very carefully," said a senior Western official who agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity.

Faraj Al Haidary, chairman of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), said on Tuesday night that the votes for the 55 newly disqualified candidates would likely be tallied. Their coalitions could then distribute the votes among standing candidates, he said.

Allawi said some of the nine members on the board believe the votes should be annulled. He said he feared rival politicians who control the government could hijack the process to weaken his slate.

The board has decided to resolve the issue after all the ballots are counted, according to an official familiar with the board's deliberations, who agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The Justice and Accountability commission's latest list of disbarred candidates includes at least one politician running on Al Maliki's slate, State of Law. Allawi said roughly 30 of the candidates are from Iraqiya.

Sami Al Askari, a lawmaker running on Al Maliki's slate, confirmed that electoral commission members were quarrelling over how to deal with the issue, but disputed that the government is working in an underhanded way.

"People of course will say whatever they like," Al Askari said. "The decision is for IHEC and it's not a political issue."

More than 6,000 candidates competed for 325 seats in Sunday's parliamentary election. Partial results were expected to be revealed on Tuesday, but the announcement was delayed.