Karbala demonstration calls to name election winner as governor

KARBALA / IraqiNews.com: Hundreds of people on Saturday took to Karbala streets, calling to appoint Yousuf al-Habobi, who won a decisive victory in the provincial elections, as a governor of the province. “The peaceful demonstration has marched through all of the old city’s streets to the provincial council building,” one of the organizers of the demonstration told IraqiNews.com news agency. One of the demonstrators, Mohammed al-Jabiri, said that the march reflects the viewpoint of the residents who voted for Habobi. Habobi gained a majority of votes in the provincial council elections, held in January 2009 in 14 out of Iraq’s 18 provinces. The holy Shiite city of Karbala lies 110 km southwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. SS (P) 1