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Secular Sunnis join main Shi'ite coalition
The main political alliance representing Iraq's ousted Sunni Arab elite won a new boost Thursday with the accession of a second secular faction to its parliamentary bloc, making it by a long way the second biggest in the legislature.The announcement came as more than a million Shiites marked the mourning ceremony of Ashura amid heavy Iraqi security presence to prevent stampedes and attacks. The secular National Dialogue Front led by Sunni Arab politician Saleh al-Mutlaq said its 11 MPs were joining the Joint Council for National Action, giving it a total of 80 seats in the 275-seat Parliament, comfortably ahead of the 53 seats held by the main Kurdish alliance. Mutlag's faction was the second secular movement to make common cause with the Sunni religious parties of the National Accordance Front. The Iraqi National List, an alliance of secular and leftist parties led by secular former premier Iyad Allawi already announced the accession of its 25 MPs to the new Joint Council last month. The main Shiite alliance is still poised to lead the new government. On Saturday the alliance will declare its candidate for the prime minister's post. The announcement, originally scheduled for Monday, was delayed for the Ashura ceremony. Some 8,000 security personnel imposed a massive lockdown on Karbala Thursday, forbidding access to cars, searching hotels and conducting body searches on thousands of black-clad pilgrims. "The ceremony was attended by more than a million pilgrims who participated since sunrise," Karbala police chief General Razeq Abdel-Ali al-Tayi said. Large groups of men with shaven heads marched toward the mausoleum of Imam Hussein flagellating their heads with knives and swords as part of the ceremonies commemorating Hussein's martyrdom. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-02-10 |
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