 The Association of Muslim Scholars has said the Iraq elections cannot be accepted as they were conducted while under occupation.
| "Nope. Nope. Just won't do. Go back and start over again!" |
A spokesman for the influential Iraqi group, Dr Muhammad Bashar al-Faydhi, told Aljazeera on Sunday: "We, from the beginning, have announced our position toward the election as a political process that does meet the interests of Iraqis since it lacks legitimacy. It was carried in the absence of international supervision and under occupation, only persons with vested interests were supervising the political process, a move that is not logically and scientifically accepted."
| "And there ain't nobody more rigorous in the old scientific method than us Muslim Scholars!" |
Election officials announced the results earlier in the day saying 47% of eligible voters took part in the 30 January vote. But many Iraqis, most notably Sunni Arabs, did not vote due to security concerns or after boycotting the elections all together. Officials said only 2% of Sunni Arabs from al-Anbar province voted whilst only 29% from Salahadin province voted. AMS officials said they will establish relations with the new government despite their belief that it lacks authority to govern. "For the sake of those people (Iraqis who voted), we respect their choice, and will deal with the new government. Yet we know it lacks authority, does not diplomatically represent Iraq, and does not have the right or legitimacy to draw up a permanent constitution and enter in or ratify agreements," al-Faydhi said. |