Iraqi candidates await court ruling on legitimacy

An Iraqi judicial panel has postponed a decision on whether or not to disqualify nine people who won seats in March’s legislative elections. The panel eliminated one winning candidate Monday and about 50 others who failed to secure parliamentary seats.

Reuters

The Justice and Accountability Committee was to decide today whether the candidates should be barred after allegations that they had linked to former dictator Saddam Hussein’s Baath party. But a spokesperson said the decision was delayed a day, until Wednesday.

The decision is yet another setback in the formation of a government in Iraq, seven weeks after the elections.

The winning candidate disqualified Monday was from former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s secular coalition, which he says is being targeted unjustly by the judges.

Allawi narrowly won the legislative elections on 7 March, defeating incumbent Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Both fell short of winning a majority of the 325 seats, which means they must to form a coalition, which has so far proven fruitless.

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Sami Ramadani, Iraq analyst, London Metropolitican University

Salil Sarkar

Iraqi analyst Sami Ramadani of London Metropolitican University says the rivalry between the parties is not good for the Iraqi people.

“The entire process is undermined by these conflicting interests, which are really nothing to do with the interests of the Iraqi people,” he told RFI.

Ramadani blames the United States for the deep political divide in Iraq.

“Before it occupied [Iraq] it relied heavily on keeping these groups apart… but this in itself has brought in its wake an enormous instability,” he said, adding that in the midst of the instability, the United States “is sitting pretty being the godfather between these competing groups”.

He says Iraq has become one of the most corrupt countries in the world, partly because of the amount of oil money available in the country.

“The struggle for power has an economic underpinning with the conflict over oil resources, over control of key strategic posts in the government,” he said. ”These groupings have got their hands in the till, if you like, and the competition will be very intense. Neither side will give in, because it’s extremely lucrative to be in power in Iraq today.”