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Iraqi Election Returns
A fabulous bazaar of 14,400 candidates representing 400 parties participated, yielding results highly favorable to both Iraq and the United States.Iraq moved away from religious sectarianism toward more secular nationalism. All the parties that had the words Islamic or Arab in their names lost, noted Middle East expert Amir Taheri. By contrast, all those that had the words Iraq or Iraqi gained. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki went from leader of a small Islamic party to leader of the State of the Law Party, campaigning on security and secular nationalism. He won a smashing victory. His chief rival, a more sectarian and pro-Iranian Shiite religious party, was devastated. Another major Islamic party, the pro-Iranian Sadr faction, went from 11 percent of the vote to 3 percent, losing badly in its stronghold of Baghdad. The Islamic Fadhila party that had dominated Basra was almost wiped out. The once-dominant Sunni party affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and the erstwhile insurgency was badly set back. New grassroots tribal and secular Sunni leaders emerged. The big strategic winner here is the United States. The big loser is Iran. Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-02-16 |
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