Sunni party's rise signals new nationalist current

Mosul: Atheel Al Nujaifi, leader of an emergent Sunni Arab party, suddenly finds himself at the centre of a sea change in this country's most turbulent province.

While ballots from Iraq's provincial vote on Saturday are still being counted, officials say that Al Nujaifi's Al Hadba Gathering Party probably did well enough to control Nineveh's provincial council, previously in the hands of Kurds.

A victory would have broad implications. While it sets the stage for heightened tensions in Mosul between Kurds and Arabs, some say it could also convince Sunni Arab insurgents to lower their guns as they are beginning to see new political openings.

Overall, Al Nujaifi's party seems a harbinger of a wider nationalist, secular current intent on throwing off US and Iranian influence.

"All the people who went out and voted, voted against the status quo and the Kurdish parties have to understand this reality," says Al Nujaifi, a prominent businessman who campaigned on a platform that US and Iraqi officials describe as blatantly anti-Kurdish.

"We are not enemies of the Kurds," insists Al Nujaifi, his black Italian cashmere jacket offset by a subtly striped red and white tie.

"There are certain issues and we would like to discuss these issues with Kurdish parties but we are not going to give up the rights for the people who have voted for our party."

Al Nujaifi warns that unrest could break out in the streets of Mosul, Iraq's third largest city and a main commercial centre, if Kurdish officials do not accept the election results.

Kurdish authorities in Nineveh have already complained to electoral officials that voter registration problems barred many supporters from voting.

Al Nujaifi insists that Al Hadba has won at least 50 per cent of the provincial votes. Officials close to the election process say it's closer to 40 per cent - still enough to dominate Nineveh's provincial council and choose the new governor. Kurds say Al Hadba is overestimating its support.

"We are satisfied with the elections," says current Deputy Governor Khasro Goran, a member of the Kurdish Democratic Party.

A victory by Al Hadba would produce the most dramatic transition among the 14 Iraqi provinces that voted on Saturday. No other majority Arab province has had a provincial council so dominated by Kurds, who have held 31 of the 41 seats in the existing provincial government.

Mosul, where more than 1,000 senior Iraqi Army officers were thrown out of work when US authorities disbanded the army, has been a centre of the insurgency. "We thought the big Sunni power would be the Awakening, but Al Hadba could be the new rising star," says one Western official monitoring the elections.