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D_Raay
02-04-2005, 12:54 PM
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=607555

The coalition of Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi interim Prime Minister appointed by the Americans, is heading for election defeat at the hands of a list backed by the country's senior Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, partial results released yesterday indicate.

The results from Baghdad - where Mr Allawi was expected to do well - show the one-time CIA protégé with only 140,364 votes compared to 350,069 for the alliance, which is headed by a Shia cleric who lived in Iran for many years.

Among the mostly five Shia provinces tallied so far, the alliance's lead is even wider. It has 1.1 million of the 1.6 million votes counted at 10 per cent of polling centres in the capital and the Shia south. Mr Allawi's list was second with 360,500.

"Large numbers of Shia voted along sectarian lines," said Sharif Ali bin Hussein, head of the Constitutional Monarchy Party. "Americans are in for a shock. A lot of people in the country are going to wake up in shock."

This is interesting. The United States overthrew the only secular government in the Middle East, imposed elections, whereupon it looks like the Iraqi people will vote in the very sort of theocracy the US has denounced in other Arab nations. And, it gets even better. If Sistani wins (and survives the event), his first official act will be to tell the US to get the heck out of Iraq.

Something "dramatic" will have to happen if Bush plans to use Iraq for the invasion of Iran and Syria.

Ace42
02-04-2005, 01:01 PM
I think Sistani is quite a reasonable person though. His sort of theocracy could potentially be more reasonable than the sort of sectarian political coalition the US would hope for. And certainly a *progressive* independant theocracy would have a more positive effect on the theocracies of the region than a puppet US government.

ASsman
02-04-2005, 01:02 PM
100USD on Allawi to win.

Or maybe this is some scheme to throw off dissenters! "But look, it's not a puppet government..." - People

D_Raay
02-04-2005, 01:03 PM
Not quite the result the Bush people wanted .... I am delighted at the irony of it..

ASsman
02-04-2005, 01:08 PM
I need to see before and after picture to believe it.

Qdrop
02-04-2005, 01:27 PM
But hey, that's democracy....if the people want it, they will get it!

yep.
if they want theocracy (sigh)....they can vote for it.



fuckin religion.

Whois
02-04-2005, 02:49 PM
Not quite the result the Bush people wanted .... I am delighted at the irony of it..

Not the election they wanted either...it was effectively forced on the administration by circumstances.

Echewta
02-04-2005, 04:00 PM
I'm sure the new Iraqi government can use that fancy fresh Embassy for something good, just like we use Saddam's palaces for "the people."

ASsman
02-05-2005, 09:47 AM
Divine intervention.

Whois
02-07-2005, 10:46 AM
Divine intervention.


I know Republican fundys who see an attack on Iran as being the start of Armageddon...and they're eager for it.

"...we shall all go together when we go..."

Ali
02-09-2005, 09:21 AM
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=7025

Iraqi officials said on Wednesday that the final results of the January 30 national elections will be delayed because the electoral commission must recount votes from almost 300 ballot boxes.

The preliminary results of the election announced so far show that a Shiite coalition, led by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is in the lead, as expected.

A coalition of Kurdish parties is second and a bloc led by interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi comes third.

I guess there needs to be a re-count