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  1. #21
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    Re: Hakim, Amiri discuss the electoral scene and the general situation in the country

    FROM CHATTELS

    President Barzani Appears to Rebuff Peace Overtures by Maliki

    By Harvey Morris



    LONDON –
    Massoud Barzani, the Kurdistan Region president, appeared to rebuff recent overtures from Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki when he this week accused the Shiite politician of taking the country towards totalitarianism.

    In remarks that might be read as a response to peace feelers from Mr. Maliki after months of deteriorating relations between Erbil and Baghdad, Barzani said: “The authorities in Baghdad want to control everything ... It is not acceptable to us. We want to be partners; we don't want to be subjects."

    He was speaking in an interview with Reuters on Monday in which he also repeated a warning that Kurds could decide to opt for independence if their demands for a fair deal from the Baghdad government were not met.

    The KRG president’s remarks came after Maliki reached out to Kurdish and other political leaders in the hope of garnering support for a third term as prime minister following national elections held on April 30.

    A source in Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Kurdish party shown to have won the largest number of votes in the parliamentary elections according to early counts, this week said its leaders had received a letter signed by Maliki as the head of his State of Law coalition and outlining his plans.

    Ali Shala, his fellow leader in the coalition, had earlier noted that Kurdish participation in the new Iraqi government would benefit all sides. Shala singled out President Barzani as an “experienced politician who takes into account the current domestic and international circumstances when making decisions.”

    Barzani failed to return the compliment in a blistering attack on Maliki for overseeing a drift towards authoritarianism in his second four-year term.

    "There was no partnership, and it was totalitarianism," said Barzani of governance in Iraq under Maliki.

    "He is the number one responsible for it. He was capable of not allowing the whole process to go in that direction," the KRG leader told Reuters.

    Final results of last month’s election have yet to be announced and Kurdish support could turn out to be vital for the prime minister’s hopes of securing a further term. Meanwhile, his rivals among Sunnis and even within his own Shiite community are relying on the Kurds to thwart his ambition to stay in power.

    The atmosphere between Erbil and Baghdad has been soured by an unresolved dispute over Kurdish plans to export the region’s oil directly to Turkey. Kurdish leaders have also complained about Baghdad’s violent crackdown on ordinary Arab Sunnis that has led to an influx of refugees to the KRG from Anbar province.

    Referring to the crackdown in Anbar, Barzani said: "To ignite a war in order to achieve political gains is a catastrophe." He added: “In any country, if they pursue that strategy, that means the end of that country."

    Erbil has previously accused Maliki of failing to abide by the spirit of Iraq’s federal constitution. President Barzani signaled that one option open to the Kurds to respond was to withdraw all Kurdish participation in the Baghdad government.

    "All options are on the table," he told Reuters. Declaring that the present situation in Iraq was unsustainable, he said: "It is time for final decisions. We are not going to wait another decade and go through the same experience again. If we boycott the process, we will boycott everything."

    The Kurds helped Maliki secure a second term in 2010 after accepting his promises to share power and settle the status of the so-called disputed territories, which include Kirkuk. When he failed to deliver, Barzani joined an unsuccessful bid to unseat him in 2014.

    Although his latest remarks did not represent an outright rejection of Maliki’s overtures, that past experience will have taught him that the Kurds need firmer guarantees if they agree to share power again.

    Referring to the prospect of an eventual independence referendum in Kurdistan, Barzani said: "If they don't like us to be with them, they should tell us and we will take another path as well. We are going to have a referendum and ask our people. Whatever the people decide."

    ARTICLE LINK



  2. #22

    Al-Maliki is ready to cede third mandate not be prosecuted!!!!

    * From a friend *

    Sources: Al-Maliki is ready to cede third mandate not be prosecuted!!!!

    Baghdad/Orr news

    Publication in the National Alliance said that the head of State of law Coalition Nuri al-Maliki agreed to the demand of the masses Coalition rejects third term. The source said that the outgoing Prime Minister, realizing that winning a third term in Office after his coalition was impossible on less than 80-seat Parliament, according to results provided by the independent High Electoral Commission.

    The more fear Al-Maliki is judicial and legal proceedings resulting from the mismanagement of the Government during the past four years and the administrative and financial corruption that accompanied the work and is more than $ 300 billion. The President of the State of law coalition parties handed the key document his most important clauses are not modal, prosecution and legal "with 15 leading figure of the Dawa party and including the Director of the State property in the green zone, Ahmed Nouri al-Maliki and Senior Deputy Interior Minister Adnan Al-Assadi and to close the former Trade Minister Abdul file tiller-Sudanese".

    A good strong Shiite leaders, Al-Maliki between acceptance of its conditions or defect from the National Alliance, to form an alliance between State of law and a number of other small political forces. The political body for the Iraqi National Alliance, met Monday with all components, and in the presence of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Office of President Ibrahim Al-Jaafari.

    https://www.microsofttranslator.com/B...-12-35-56.html

  3. #23

    Iraqi political blocs mislead with leaks on election results



    Iraqi political blocs mislead with leaks on election results

    On Iraqi social media, charts showing the results of the parliamentary elections that took place on April 30 have gone viral. The results are even being circulated by some news agencies and television channels. The Facebook pages of the members of political blocs and parties that participated in the elections are also rushing to post the results.

    The members of the State of Law Coalition, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, have been making more of these early announcements through their media statements than others. However, the figures announced by the politicians have mostly seemed inaccurate.

    The media officer of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), Aziz al-Khaikani, told Al-Monitor, “The figures circulated by the media and posted on social networks about the victory of one entity or the other are mere predictions, and the IHEC has nothing to do with them.” Khaikani added, “The announced results are merely the political blocs’ own judgment.”

    He also called on the political entities to wait for the official results of the elections, which the commission will announce in an official statement at the end of May or early June.

    Al-Monitor spoke with State of Law Coalition candidate Saad al-Matlabi about this issue. “It is wrong for the political blocs to announce the results and the number of seats they got in advance, because that would embarrass them in front of their supporters in case their figures and the commission’s final figures did not match,” he said.

    “Some members of the State of Law Coalition are disclosing results based on the nature of the electoral inclinations or on a sample of the results of some polling centers on election day,” Matlabi said. “We received the available figures from the observers of the State of Law Coalition that are distributed over all Iraqi regions.”

    However, Khaikani said, “The blocs must not rely on their delegates in the vote count centers to evaluate their victory.”

    Writer and political analyst Safaa Khalaf said that declaring the election results early is “a game to confuse the supporters, provoke the other blocs and confuse the IHEC as well, so that it gives close figures that spare the other blocs a blatant loss.”

    Khalaf told Al-Monitor: “The obvious game is to doubt the integrity of the vote counting process and the results, so that the loss turns into an electoral pretext that guarantees pressure to obtain gains [positions and appointments] and keep earning public support out of 'unjust treatment.'”

    https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/orig...#ixzz31pZsOwmF
    Last edited by chattels; 05-15-2014 at 11:47 PM.

  4. #24

    Iraqi MP fined for offering land for votes



    Iraqi MP fined for offering land for votes

    A video of Mahmoud al-Hassan, an Iraqi member of parliament (MP) from the State of Law Coalition, talking to a group of farmers in the province of Diwaniyah has circulated in Iraqi media. In the video, he is holding a stack of real estate title deeds and telling the farmers that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has sent him to give them plots of land in exchange for their votes in favor of his coalition in the elections. The video has triggered much controversy in Iraq, as its content constitutes several violations of the law. Hassan is an MP and does not hold any executive position that allows him to distribute title deeds. Moreover, his actions are seen as political extortion, aimed at obtaining votes by using the state's resources.

    The Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) fined Hassan 50 million Iraqi dinars ($43,000) for violating the rules for electoral campaigns. Yet, some felt that this punishment was not sufficient and is not commensurate with the seriousness of the offense he committed. They believe that the IHEC is being lenient with the prime minister's allies. What is interesting is that Hassan had been a judge in one of the most critical Iraqi courts — the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal — which was supposed to make him more vigilant about observing laws.

    This incident is further indication of the growing tendency among groups that have strong leverage in the executive branch to use the state's resources and capabilities to achieve political advantage over their opponents. The State of Law Coalition has become increasingly dominant over many of the state's departments, which facilitated the use of political patronage in gaining followers and votes in a similar way to that by the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iraqi Kurdistan.

    An Iraqi politician, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor that during the 2012 crisis, when some political forces tried to withdraw confidence from Maliki, the impartial forces tried to blackmail Maliki by demanding a great deal of personal favors in return for not joining the coalition to withdraw confidence. These demands included granting MPs the freedom to appoint their cronies in state departments, so as to enhance their political weight. The same thing happened with the ministers who turned their allegiance away from their political parties that were opposing Maliki. Maliki himself talked about being blackmailed by his partners in the government, as they wish to achieve personal interests without being held accountable.

    The State of Law Coalition has largely based its electoral campaign on government jobs and distributing land and housing to the needy, and has sought to provide social services outside the traditional institutional frameworks to gain more popular support. Maliki himself has been keen to distribute real estate title deeds to citizens during his campaign tours.

    The distribution of land has always been one of the important tools used by the political power in Iraq to gain votes or reward followers. However, the danger of this practice lies in the fact that it has not been carried out according to a legal and administrative context that has been agreed on in an nondiscriminatory manner.

    Politicians have long used this means to serve their interests, which was very common during Saddam Hussein's rule when giving a plot of land was a mere "tip" by the president for his supporters.

    Besides the distribution of land, during his electoral campaign Maliki launched a series of government projects, which was seen by many as a kind of political propaganda, where the prime minister is using the government institutions to serve his political party.

    One of the most striking phenomena during the recent elections is the nomination of Maliki's relatives as candidates within the State of Law Coalition or smaller supporting electoral lists.

    The two candidates who attracted most attention were Maliki's sons-in-law, who work in his office: Hussein Ahmed Maliki (Abu Rahab) and Yasser Abdul Sakhil Maliki.

    In fact, the names of the two have been increasingly circulating in political and media circles in recent years, which is an indication of a rise in their influence that has been associated with the growing power of Maliki's office. As Maliki felt that other forces have been trying to restrict his freedom and make him fail, he sought to circumvent constitutional institutions by delegating powers to acting officials or maximizing entities that are directly associated to him, such as the office of the prime minister. This tendency has grown during Maliki’s second term to the extent that Ahmed Chalabi, the leader in the Shiite Citizen Coalition, stated in December 2013, “The government is currently administered by Maliki and a small circle of relatives and loyalists."

    Maliki is no different from most Iraqi officials who came to office and surrounded themselves with their close associates and cronies. However, with his consolidation of power over the past few years, the influence of the prime minister's relatives has increased, overshadowing their counterparts in the offices of other officials.

    Moreover, Maliki did not appoint his relatives only to get his political opponents off his back, but also to weaken his rivals in the Islamic Dawa Party, whose other leaders continue to believe that Maliki owes his position to the historical role of their party.

    It seems that in the current period the Dawa Party’s role has declined, as the influence of other figures and forces linked to Maliki has increased.

    Maliki, on the other hand, sees the party — with its limited ideological and organizational nature — insufficient to reflect bigger alliances and interests, which have spawned within the government bureaucracy and the military institution in the framework of the State of Law Coalition and its close forces.

    Some believe that the nomination of Maliki's sons-in-law in Karbala may have been partly aimed at belittling one of the most prominent leaders in the Dawa Party, Higher Education Minister Ali al-Adeeb, who ran at the head of the list of the State of Law Coalition in the city.

    According to leaked election results, Maliki's two relatives collected together a large number of votes at Adeeb's expense. They hail from Karbala and managed to establish extensive relationships with the social forces, especially through the "nongovernmental" organizations they support and fund. They also take advantage of their kinship with the prime minister to provide facilities and benefits to some segments of society.

    Hussein established a charitable foundation under the name of "Rehab," which introduces itself on its Facebook page as "a charitable foundation seeking to serve the families of Karbala and make their voices heard by the highest authority in the state."

    For his part, Yasser has played a role in contacting tribes in the center and south of the country. He also founded an organization under the name of "Al-Shabab Houna," to take care of and provide services to young people. His name was put forth to be nominated as the new governor of Karbala in case the post becomes available in the future.

    The predominance of the executive power is not something new. It has been present in most rentier states, and it seems that the same scenario is now playing out in Iraq. With this predominance, constitutional institutions have been surpassed, becoming weaker, as opposed to the growing political patronage as a way to manage the state's affairs. Should things continue down this path, the old political legacies in Iraq are likely to be back to the forefront. These politics were based on the quasi-unilateral dependence on oil revenues to serve the interests of the dominant forces, which run this process in such a way to preserve their power and dominance.

    https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/orig...#ixzz31pbzdbBO

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