Spring Break
Iraqis out stumping for votes in show of democracy
Kim Gamel - Associated Press
Issue date: 1/20/09 Section: News
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This is the new style of campaigning in Iraq, where candidates feel safe enough to stump for votes and focus on grass-roots issues instead of the religious divisions and violence that overshadowed earlier elections held after Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled in 2003.
The shift was evident at a weekend forum that brought together 13 candidates in the Jan. 31 election for provincial councils, including a communist, Shiites, Sunnis and a journalist who formed a party named after an Iraqi television show called "Let's Talk."
As a waiter in traditional Arab clothing poured coffee at the gathering in a Baghdad country club, the moderator and people in the audience asked candidates how they would improve public services.
They got one minute for each answer. And nobody was fazed when the power went out briefly - a common occurrence in a country that still has severe electricity shortages.
Madiha al-Moussawi, a candidate from a secular party, promised to encourage foreign investment to help create jobs.
"Our goal is a better life for Baghdad and respect for women," said Ayad Younis of the main Sunni bloc, the Iraqi Accordance Front.
A new election rule allows Iraqis to vote for individuals instead of only political parties for the first time since Saddam's ouster.
That has encouraged a number of first-time candidates to join the race, hoping to persuade voters to turn against politicians widely criticized for misrule.
The field is crowded. There are 14,431 candidates vying for a total of 444 seats on councils in all but four of Iraq's 18 provinces.
The electoral commission says 75 percent of the parties and coalitions are new.
U.S. and Iraqi officials are pinning their hopes on the first nationwide balloting in three years, looking for it to unify ethnic and sectarian groups.
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