New threats to Iraq's elections

One week after the barring of Saleh Al-Mutlaq, the leader of a key Iraqi Sunni group and prominent politician, from running in the country's forthcoming legislative elections, an Iraqi vetting committee has banned some 500 mostly Sunni candidates from the March elections on the grounds that they have links to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, sparking concerns that this may lead to a widespread Sunni boycott and trigger a new political crisis in the violence-torn country.

Faraj Al-Haidari, the head of the electoral commission, said on Monday that the candidates were to be barred in accordance with a blacklist the commission had received from the country's justice and accountability committee, which vets candidates for the elections. Commissioner Hamdiya Al-Husseini later said that the list included 522 names and would not be published for fear of reprisals.

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http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/982/re81.htm