Iraq vote row to be resolved before campaign starts

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday he has received assurances that judges will resolve a simmering row over who can stand in Iraq's general election before official campaigning starts on February 12.

Around 100 lawmakers had gathered earlier at parliament for an emergency session to debate a contentious decision to allow hundreds of candidates allegedly linked to executed dictator Saddam Hussein's Baath party to stand in the vote.

The meeting was triggered by Maliki after he branded as "illegal" a judicial panel's ruling that around 500 previously barred candidates could compete in the March 7 vote after all, subject to a post-ballot appeals process.

But the parliament meeting was called off when MPs were told the chamber had received a letter from Maliki that said a judicial panel would complete an appeals process by next Friday, more than three weeks ahead of polling day.

The letter specified that "the panel of judges decided to start immediately the study of the appeals," deputy parliament speaker Khaled al-Attiya told MPs.

A parliamentary official told AFP that the judicial panel had also written to parliament to say it will be able to complete its review of candidates by Friday, when official campaigning is due to start.

The head of the integrity and accountability committee that originally accused the candidates of being Baathists or having other ties to Saddam's fallen regime told AFP separately that only 177 people have launched appeals.

Ali al-Allami, executive director of the committee, said the number was markedly less than the 511 names originally blacklisted from the vote as many parties had chosen alternative candidates.

The election, the second parliamentary ballot in Iraq since Saddam's ouster, is seen as a test of reconciliation between the Sunni minority dominant under the former dictator and the Shiite majority represented by Maliki's government.

The volatile election environment was underscored late Sunday when a female candidate was gunned down in the restive northern city of Mosul, 350 kilometres (218 miles) from Baghdad, a killing said to be politically motivated.

The judges decided on Wednesday to allow the previously barred candidates to stand, saying they would examine their files after the polls and would eliminate them if they were found to be Baathists.

The blacklist sparked tensions between the country's Shiite majority and its Sunni Arab former elite when it was compiled last month.

It includes -- both Sunni and Shiite -- suspected Baathists and alleged members of Saddam's once deadly Fedayeen (Men of Sacrifice) militia and Mukhabarat intelligence division.

The row over who can take part in the vote, however, has underscored the fragility of Iraq's democracy, alarming Washington which sees the election as a crucial precursor to a complete military withdrawal by the end of 2011.

There are currently 107,000 US troops in Iraq, but the number is scheduled to fall to 50,000 by August when all American combat soldiers are due to pull out.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday she was "heartened" by the decision to reinstate the previously banned candidates and urged all parties to do nothing to undermine the legitimacy of elections.