Election results draw new map of alliances

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The results of the provincial election that took place last January have depicted another political image in Iraq, by showing an end to the domination that some political parties maintained over some provinces’ councils over the past four years. As other political powers are gaining more influence in return, lawmakers and analysts perceive that the door is open for new alliances relying on different bases that may change the rules of the game. Hadi Jalaw, an Iraqi journalist, sees that religious parties, such as the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) and the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), have been backed into a critical corner after losing their influential representation in provincial councils to the Dawa Party’s State of Law List “The Sadr movement and Fadila party have better chances to form alliances with the Dawa Party, as they all have mutual ideological principles,” Jalaw told IraqiNews.com news agency. Ameer al-Kinani, head of al-Ahrar List supported by the Sadr movement, perceives that federalism and a weak center are considered redlines for the movement. “Appointing unqualified candidates in major positions should also be avoided,” al-Kinani noted. He pointed out that rather than those points, al-Ahrar List has no other conditions to form alliances with any other party. “Al-Ahrar movement had a meeting with Premier Nouri al-Maliki, who is also the head of the State of Law List, and both sides agreed to form alliances in all the provinces where the premier’s list won the election,” al-Kinani explained. For his part, Ridha Jawad Taqee, a senior member of the SIIC, perceives that it is possible ally with al-Maliki’s list. “Al-Maliki believes in federalism, as we do, but he wants to adopt a different mechanism,” Taqee said. But Sami al-Askari, a senior member of the Dawa Party, sees that Premier al-Maliki is determined not to employ the quota system that has been prevailing in Iraq since 2003. “Even small entities would be absorbed,” Al-Askari said. Al-Fadila Islamic Party, the other Shiite religious player in Iraq, still claims distinguished political influence in Baghdad and other provinces. “The party has reforming visions that other parties lack,” Sabah al-Saedi, a senior member of al-Fadila Party, told IraqiNews.com news agency, stressing that the political map in the mid and southern regions of Iraq would change. On the Sunni side, and in al-Anbar province which was once the most unstable province in Iraq, the head of the National Dialogue Council, Khalaf al-Ilayian, has no plans to join an alliance with the IIP. “We can join an alliance with the IIP in any province but al-Anbar,” al-Ilayian said. In the other Sunni province of Ninewa, the change was essential, with al-Hadbaa List replacing Kurdish parties. “Kurdish parties will not be as influential as they were before in Ninewa,” lawmaker Osama al-Nujaifi said. “We will join alliances with those who have a similar patriotic approach that opposes federalism,” he added. MH (R)/SR 3