Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Iraq Election Sham: No Names Will Be On The Ballots
The ballot for the election will be one sheet with candidates from more than 120 parties. The candidates will be identified by title, number and logo. Their names will not be listed.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/12/31/802649-sun.html
Poor security inhibits learning much about the parties and candidates beyond simple labels. The Independent Electoral Commission, which is in charge of producing the elections, has refused to release the names of the 7,000-plus candidates who are running, saying it's too dangerous for them. It has promised to announce the names eventually.
In the meantime, it's been up to the parties to let people know who's running on their slates. Many release only the top names on the ticket. The parties also say the bad security precludes them from announcing their candidates, and from going out and meeting voters.
The lack of any understanding about the parties perpetuates the distrust between citizens and parties, said Nasser Chadiriji, the head of the National Democratic Party.
"If I were to vote for a list, when would I find out who is on the list?" asked Ahmed Abu Hiba, a Sunni from Fallujah. "I would participate, but I don't know the people."
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId=CqEc6ueicvvnjuKfrluvuse5jq1nqteLu
Americans, who have just endured the endless 2004 presidential campaign in which no detail about the candidates was too picayune to get saturation coverage, would find little that was familiar in the campaigning now under way in Iraq. Three weeks from the scheduled election, most Iraqis don't even know the names of the candidates--who are so afraid of being murdered that they refuse to be identified.
That's the face of democracy in Iraq, as insurgent violence mounts in the days before the Jan. 30 election. Four provinces have been declared not yet safe enough for voting, but Administration officials have not wavered in their insistence that the vote will be held on schedule. "I don't think it's a debate anymore," says a U.S. official in Iraq. "The tactical and strategic setback would be far more damaging than the problems we would face after the election."
Iraqis are being asked to choose from largely anonymous slates sponsored by different factions. These slates politick via posters adorning the innumerable concrete barriers that define Baghdad's traffic arteries. Voters are urged, for instance, to pick List No. 169, the one approved by the umbrageous Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani. Candidates do little flesh pressing and baby kissing, but there are ads on TV and radio, and each party has its own newspaper.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1015882,00.html
Poor security inhibits learning much about the parties and candidates beyond simple labels. The Independent Electoral Commission, which is in charge of producing the elections, has refused to release the names of the 7,000-plus candidates who are running, saying it's too dangerous for them. It has promised to announce the names eventually.
In the meantime, it's been up to the parties to let people know who's running on their slates. Many release only the top names on the ticket. The parties also say the bad security precludes them from announcing their candidates, and from going out and meeting voters.
The lack of any understanding about the parties perpetuates the distrust between citizens and parties, said Nasser Chadiriji, the head of the National Democratic Party.
"If I were to vote for a list, when would I find out who is on the list?" asked Ahmed Abu Hiba, a Sunni from Fallujah. "I would participate, but I don't know the people."
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId=CqEc6ueicvvnjuKfrluvuse5jq1nqteLu
Americans, who have just endured the endless 2004 presidential campaign in which no detail about the candidates was too picayune to get saturation coverage, would find little that was familiar in the campaigning now under way in Iraq. Three weeks from the scheduled election, most Iraqis don't even know the names of the candidates--who are so afraid of being murdered that they refuse to be identified.
That's the face of democracy in Iraq, as insurgent violence mounts in the days before the Jan. 30 election. Four provinces have been declared not yet safe enough for voting, but Administration officials have not wavered in their insistence that the vote will be held on schedule. "I don't think it's a debate anymore," says a U.S. official in Iraq. "The tactical and strategic setback would be far more damaging than the problems we would face after the election."
Iraqis are being asked to choose from largely anonymous slates sponsored by different factions. These slates politick via posters adorning the innumerable concrete barriers that define Baghdad's traffic arteries. Voters are urged, for instance, to pick List No. 169, the one approved by the umbrageous Grand Ayatullah Ali Husaini Sistani. Candidates do little flesh pressing and baby kissing, but there are ads on TV and radio, and each party has its own newspaper.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1015882,00.html
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$210.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network
"With your voice, we will build Iraq," reads one. "No to dictatorship, Yes to the coalition," reads another.
None of the signs spell out what the party would do if it won.
Political parties are widely distrusted in Iraq. During Saddam Hussein's reign, only one party could operate freely, the Baath Party. And party politics usually meant courting favors for party members.
Indeed, the word "party" has such negative connotations that of the 111 political parties that will appear on the ballot, only 19 use the word "party" in their names. The rest call themselves coalitions, gatherings, assemblies and the like.
Political parties "are going to the religious leaders to gain the people's respect," said Ahmed al Ruwaee, an economics professor at al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad who's followed the election. "It's because the parties are not confident in their base."
In the process, it creates sectarianism, al Ruwaee said. Instead of campaigning on their plans for the country, they're leaning on the citizens' loyalty to their religious leaders.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/special_packages/iraq/10592642.htm?1c