Iraq neighbors don’t want to see its democracy flourishing – politician

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: A leading politician in the National Alliance said on Thursday that Iraq is surrounded by countries that do not want to see democracy flourishing there, noting there are three components that no government would do without. “The countries that surround Iraq want to see everything taking place in it distorted. Iraq has three equal powers – the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds – and negligence of any of them would not help form a government,” Ali al-Adib said in an address during a conference of the tribal chiefs in Karbala. He noted that the National Alliance (NA) is facing “competition by the others over power”. “Al-Iraqiya bloc is trying to throw a spanner into the political process. It wants full power otherwise it stalls the formation of a government,” Adib said. Al-Iraqiya, a political bloc led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, has won 91 out of a total 325 parliamentary seats in the March 7 general elections in Iraq, followed by incumbent Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law) with 89 seats, the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) with 70 seats and the Kurdistan Alliance (KA) with 43 seats. AmR (P) 1