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Sadr Allies With Sunnis for Elections
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Sadr
said he took his decision due to "the difficult situation
facing the country."
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NAJAF,
Iraq, October 26, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Shiite
leader Moqtada Al-Sadr said Wednesday, October 26, he would present a
joint list of candidates with Sunni Arabs in Al-Anbar province to
contest the December 15 legislative elections.
The
office of the anti-occupation firebrand said it decided to ally itself
with the Sunnis due to "the difficult situation facing the
country, to prevent the occupier and enemies of Iraq from attaining
their goals, to consolidate national identity and to reaffirm its
unity," reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The
deputy Fattah Al-Sheikh has been designated to form a list in Al-Anbar
for the elections," added the statement.
Sheikh
told AFP he would "run in Al-Anbar at the head of a list that
includes eight Sunni candidates.
"Consultations
have taken place in recent days to create a national Islamic
force," to run against a secular bloc being mooted by former
prime minister Iyad Allawi, he said.
Al-Anbar
along with
Nineveh
and Salahudin were the only three provinces which rejected the draft
constitution hard-pressed by the Shiites and Kurds and ratified in a
referendum whose results were announced Tuesday, October 25.
Al-Anbar
and Salahudin recorded "No" votes greater than two thirds,
but
Nineveh
was short of a veto.
Referendum
rules stipulate that the draft fails if rejected by a two-thirds
majority in any three of the 18 provinces and elections to a new
parliament must be held.
Sunni
Appeal
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Dulaimi
said those who call for a boycott of the vote "sought to
destroy the country".
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Meanwhile,
the newly constituted Sunni Iraqi Concord Front (ICF), a united
political front of three Sunni parties, appealed to other political
powers in the country to join forces.
"The
door is open to other entities or political figures that wish to join
our list," it said in a statement carried by AFP.
The
Conference of the People of Iraq (CPI), the Islamic Party and the
Iraqi National Dialogue (IND) joined the political fray in
Iraq
on October 14 as one entity on October 14 to run in parliamentary
elections.
"We
want to run as a political bloc in the next elections in order to
obtain the best results,"
IND
head Sheikh Khalaf Alayan told reporters on Wednesday.
CPI
chief Adnan Al-Dulaimi criticized those who might call for a boycott
of the vote, saying they "sought to destroy the country".
"We
hope that those who oppose this consultation will not place obstacles
in our path," added Islamic Party number two Tareq Al-Hashimi.
The
Sunni Arabs, along with Sadr and other communist powers, mostly
boycotted general elections on January 30, but appear to have
understood since that they must elect candidates in order to weigh in
on crucial decisions after a new round of voting in mid-December.
The
Sunni bloc urged voters to "go to the ballots en masse and ignore
calls for a boycott that would harm our country's interests."
The
Islamic Party backed the new Iraqi constitution when it was put to
referendum a week ago, while the two other groups opposed the draft
charter.
The
Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), the largest influential body in
Iraq
, nonetheless refrained from calling immediately for a boycott of the
elections.
"We
have not yet decided on our position," committee spokesman Abdel
Salam Kobaisi.
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