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Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 09:06:47 AM EST
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The results are in from Iraq's Jan. 30 election: The United Arab Alliance, backed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, got the most votes with 47.6%, but fell short of a majority.

A coalition of largely Shiite parties tacitly backed by the country's most influential religious leader won the largest number of votes in election results released Sunday, but fell short of the majority that many of its leaders had expected.

The U.S. had backed a secular Shiite party led by Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. It received 13.6 of the vote. As predicted, the Sunnis were the big loser, with the two major Sunni candidates getting less than 2 and 0.1%, respectively.

According to the returns, which still must be certified, the coalition known as the United Iraqi Alliance won 47.6 percent of the vote, the low end of what its officials had predicted. A coalition of two main Kurdish parties won 25.4 percent of the vote, and a bloc led by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite, got 13.6 percent. The United Iraqi Alliance drew the support of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country's leading Shiite cleric.

Among the biggest losers in the elections were Iraq's interim president, Ghazi Yawar, a Sunni Arab whose list of candidates drew less than 2 percent of the vote, and Adnan Pachachi, a Sunni elder statesman and former foreign minister who headed a ticket that received only about 0.1 percent.

Election officials put overall turnout at 8.5 million voters or 58% of the elibigle voting public.

What happens next?

Together, the three coalitions accounted for nearly 87 percent of the vote, making them the central players in the new National Assembly, which will choose a president and two vice presidents. They, in turn, will appoint a prime minister, who will choose a cabinet. The new government will be subject to confirmation by the assembly, which will also be charged with writing a new Iraqi constitution.

The fun begins with the drafting of the Constitution. How much deference will it give to Islamic principles? How will the Sunnis be included and if they are not included, will the new Government be viewed as legitimate?

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    • Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead | 11 comments (11 topical)
    Re: Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead (none / 0) (#1)
    by Adept Havelock on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 10:04:48 AM EST
    The Bush Family: Making the middle east safe for 12th Century Islamic Fiefdoms since 1990. :)

    Re: Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 11:10:21 AM EST
    The Bush family making the world free for enslavement, big money in the hands of a few and a good life for the 3 percent of the world, yes freedom ok the bush way, how many dead? the next thing you will hear is we must free the holyland, "good god" stop the myth and see it for what it is, the real issue is do you want a one world government? if so keep it up and see what you will get. "well maybe a muslim in every pot" Oh how I love my Bush.

    Re: Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 01:55:25 PM EST
    Amazing that the Democrat party has suddenly become anti-democratic. I have yet to see much joy from the left over the amazing achievement of the Iraqi people. Prediction: 4 seats lost in the Senate and 6 in the 06 mid-terms. Takers? -C

    Re: Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sun Feb 13, 2005 at 02:53:18 PM EST
    Democracy...right. The Sunni Arabs (20 percent of the population and the former ruling group) mostly did not come out to vote. ...security was so bad that candidates had to remain anonymous, casting doubt on the democratic nature of the process. ...Paul Bremer passed a law making disclosure of campaign contributions unnecessary (the Bush administration's further little contribution to "democracy" in the Middle East). The only way Chalabi could become PM is if all the members of parliament were heavily bribed (by Iran?).

    Re: Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 14, 2005 at 12:08:41 AM EST
    If I really thought that the Bush Administration would allow a Pro-Iranian Shiite Theocracy to take hold in Iraq after spending 100+ Million dollars to secure the nation for U.S. Military and U.S. Corporate interests, I might take the time to explain for others here why Cliff's dishonest rhetoric was flawed. It is no surprise that a nation where the majority religion was fundamentalist, if given a fair shot, would elect a fundamentalist government.

    Re: Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 14, 2005 at 06:40:37 AM EST
    As Tampa Students suggests, the "count" of votes in Iraq is starting to show that there will be a weak coalition govt. Read: compliant with US corporate interests. Anybody who thinks that the votes in Iraq have been counted correctly also probably believes the green zone is safe. Get yourself right over there and walk the walk. Cliff, let Ben and Jerry's manufacture the vote counting equipment and then I will make predictions about the next election. I do think the electorate will vote against Dubya's cronies in the next election. I don't know if the votes will be counted or results will just be developed from the Diebold ether.

    Re: Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead (none / 0) (#7)
    by pigwiggle on Mon Feb 14, 2005 at 08:00:03 AM EST
    “It is no surprise that a nation where the majority religion was fundamentalist, if given a fair shot, would elect a fundamentalist government.” I hardly need to explain to TS that this isn’t yet a ‘government’ but a transitional national legislature that will, among other things, appoint a president (and two vice presidents) and draft a constitution that will be subject to a popular vote. We will see what form Iraq’s government will take in October when the constitution is ratified. Perhaps then it might be fair to characterize it, or not, as fundamentalist. “I might take the time to explain for others here why Cliff's dishonest rhetoric was flawed.” How about taking some time to explain yours?

    Re: Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 14, 2005 at 10:43:05 AM EST
    scalp hunting ooooooo yeah were into to that in this space. what the republicans fail to realize is that significant amounts of "liberal minded" people did not vote in 00/04. the repbulicans on the other hand, have exhausted their human resources, they have all the available extremist. democrats simply need to make known to the "apathetic" that political issues personally affect them. my only concern is how long will it take to undue this mess.

    Re: Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 14, 2005 at 10:45:45 AM EST
    "...be careful what you ask/hope for, you just might get the opposite"!!!!

    Re: Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 14, 2005 at 09:25:47 PM EST
    So I suppose that you do not accept that a true representative majority of the Iraqi people would be Islamic fundamentalists. Speak about the semantics if you wish. Provisional this, interim that, congressional whatever, etc, etc. No way the Bush Administration invests that much time and effort without seeing the short-term return they desire (permanent U.S. bases and U.S. Corporate contracts). It is the long term societal/cultural effects that are beyond their control. I've also seen the photo-ops of Iraqi women with blue thumbs. They're all so marvelously free now, aren't they. Free to live in a warzone littered with unexploded bombs, depleted Uranium shells lying all over the streets, and crappy access to clean water and other necessities of life. Hurrah, Hurrah for the rebuilding effort! Our economy is sucking up millions of dollars of foreign capital to rebuild structures we obliterated ourselves with U.S. taxpayer built bombs. If you want to live in the dreamworld where the Republican Government spends 100 Million Dollars of U.S. taxpayer's money in a "humanitarian effort" to save "Second World" Islamic fundamentalists from a secular dictatorship about as dangerous to the United States as Colombia, by all means remain there. If you want to trust the "free" corporate media to give you all of the material necessary to base your judgement, continue to do so. I'll pass. The Iraqi's deserve a government representative of their culture. They won't get it, but that is what they deserve. That government would be some derivative of a fundamentalist theocracy. Do I think that is a good way to govern a people, no. But if that is what they want, who are we to tell them they can't have it? Oh yeah, we're the ones with all of the control over their future.

    Re: Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Mon Feb 14, 2005 at 09:32:55 PM EST
    More precisely, the Corporatist-dominated U.S. Government is the one with the control. We 48% of the opposition to Bush's Neocon foreign policy are all impotent.

    Iraq Votes Counted: Religious Shiites Ahead | 11 comments (11 topical)