Charles Recknagel is standards editor for RFE/RL.
Iraqi Kurds with Kurdish flag (file photo) Iraqi Kurds are stepping up pressure for the country to become a federation in the wake of their strong showing in the January elections. The Kurds now are the second largest bloc in Iraq's National Assembly and have emerged as the swing-vote that both contenders for prime minister are courting.
Iraqi Kurds with Kurdish flag (file photo) Iraqi Kurds have won a majority of seats on the provincial council for the northern region that includes the tense, ethnically diverse city of Kirkuk. The oil-rich area is home to Kurds, to Turkomans, and to several hundred thousand Arabs settled in the north of Iraq by Saddam Hussein. In the runup to the local vote, the rival ethnic groups fought bitterly over whether displaced Kurds returning to Kirkuk would be allowed to cast their ballots, and all sides threatened boycotts to press their points. Now, as the dust settles, can Kirkuk's different groups put their disputes behind them?
Al-Sistani's Shi'ite bloc has emerged with a strong hand (file photo) A largely Shi'ite bloc, the United Iraqi Alliance, has won the most seats in the country's new National Assembly. But its victory in the 30 January elections appears to have left it with only a slim majority, meaning it now must find allies to form a viable ruling coalition. The challenge sets the stage for some lively political jockeying ahead.
Vote counting is still going on for Iraq's 30 January election. Election officials in Iraq say they have all but finished counting the ballots from Iraq’s 30 January vote for a National Assemby. But the Independent Election Commission says the announcement of the final results could still be a few days away.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (file photo) Condoleezza Rice is getting a warm reception on her first European tour as U.S. secretary of state. Rice is signaling that Washington wants to put an end to trans-Atlantic feuding over divisive issues like Iraq and develop new initiatives in partnership with the European Union. But as European leaders welcome her overtures, and many observers react positively to her personal charm, finding new common ground is far from assured. The centerpiece of her message is that Europe and the United States should make the pursuit of "global freedom" their top joint priority in the 21st century. Until now, many Europeans have accused the United States of using just that argument to justify pursuing a unilateral foreign policy. Are things about to change?
Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is closely linked to the United Iraqi Alliance The vote counting is far from over in Iraq more than a week after the elections for the National Assembly. But with many results in from Shi’a-populated areas of southern Iraq, it increasingly appears that one of the strongest groupings to emerge from the vote will be the United Iraqi Alliance, endorsed by pre-eminent Shi’a cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Some top Shi’a clerics are now making it clear they want to see the Shi’a religious parties that make up much of the alliance use their position to assure that Islamic law gets a prominent place in the new Iraqi constitution.
Kurdish flag (file photo) The main Kurdish political coalition competing for seats in the National Assembly has nominated Jalal Talabani as its choice to be Iraq's next interim president or prime minister. The move comes as Iraqi Kurds prepare to press demands for a future federal Iraq in which the Kurdish-administered region of northern Iraq retains its considerable powers of autonomy.
Voter turnout may have been smaller than originally believed (file photo) Iraq’s official election results could still be a week away as ballot counting continues. But fears are increasing that representation in Sunni areas -- where insurgents have been most active -- could be too low to assure the community is adequately represented in the National Assembly. Iraqi leaders are now scrambling to assure the Sunnis they will have a place in the new order.
Women preparing to vote yesterday in Al-Najaf Prague, 31 January 2005 -- As the world welcomes the success of the Iraq election, many details of the voting remain unclear, including just how many voters actually participated.
Hundreds of candidates are competing in Iraq's election of a National Assembly on 30 January. They come from very different backgrounds and are running for a wide variety of reasons. But all of them are braving threats from insurgents against their lives, in hopes of having a role in shaping Iraq's future.
Iraq is due to hold an election on 30 January under highly unusual circumstances. Security will be tight and most cars will be banned from the streets. In some areas, voters will see the full lists of candidates they must choose from only when they actually enter the polling stations. And international election monitors will not be present.
As Iraq's 30 January elections for a new National Assembly approach, Kurdish voters are expected to turn out in large numbers to support their own united list of candidates. The Kurdish list is campaigning to preserve the Iraqi Kurds' already considerable degree of autonomy, which many credit with keeping their area quiet, despite conflicts elsewhere in the country.
Iraq's election on 30 January comes almost two years after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. The road to elections has been -- and remains -- full of uncertainties, including whether Iraq's once dominant Arab Sunni minority will turn out for the polls. RFE/RL looks back at the road traveled thus far -- from the toppling of Hussein to rid Iraq of its presumed weapons of mass destruction to efforts to guide the country to a more democratic future.
With Iraq's poll on schedule for 30 January and violence continuing in Sunni areas, the Shi'a majority looks poised to win most of the seats in the new National Assembly. But what would this mean for Iraq's neighbor Iran -- which has worked hard for just such a result -- and for the region's Sunni-dominated Arab countries?
Would a Shi'a coalition encourage radical Islamists? As Iraq prepares for its 30 January elections for a National Assembly, Shi'a candidates are widely expected to win the greatest number of seats. One reason is that the Shi'a are the largest community in Iraq -- making up an estimated 60 percent of the population. Another is that some parts of central Iraq populated by the once dominant Sunni community remain too restive to assure a large voter turnout. If the Shi'a do become the country's most politically powerful community, how will that affect Iraq's prospects for developing a stable, more democratic system of government?
(file photo) The Netherlands has announced that it will withdraw its 1,350 troops from Iraq by mid-March. It's the latest in a string of similar announcements by Washington's allies, including plans by Poland and Ukraine to get mostly or completely out of Iraq over the course of this year. When the troop reductions are complete, how much of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq will be left, and who will shoulder the additional security burdens?
With two weeks to go before Iraq's National Assembly election, most of the candidate's names have still not been made public for security reasons. But when voters go to the polls on 30 January, and do view the complete lists, they will see something unprecedented in Iraqi history. One of every three names on the candidate lists is the name of a woman. That is in line with requirements that at least 25 percent of the new assembly's seats go to women.
Election campaigning is under way for Iraq's 30 January vote. But with security a major concern, the campaigning bears little resemblance to what takes place in more stable countries. Most candidates appear in public only on television. And rallies, when they occur, are limited to a few hundred party faithful within closely guarded compounds.
Prime Minister Allawi (file photo) Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has acknowledged that areas of Iraq will be too unsafe to take part in the 30 January election. The assessment raises again the question of how free and fair Iraq's vote for a new National Assembly can be given the continuing violence.
Arab Sunni leaders are becoming increasingly vocal in raising concerns over Iraq's planned 30 January elections. Many say they worry that the security situation in central and parts of northern Iraq will prevent large numbers of Sunni voters from going to the polls, assuring Sunni candidates do poorly in the race for seats in the new National Assembly. Some community leaders fear this month's vote will hand power to Iraq's Shi'a majority after decades of Sunni dominance of the country's affairs.
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