Will Anti-US Cleric Be Able to Pick Next Iraqi PM?
Though reliable polls in the war-torn and decidedly segmented Iraqi society are virtually impossible to come by, a flurry of polls suggest that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s “State of Law” bloc is in first place, but having alienated virtually every other bloc it is likely to be well short of forming a coalition.
Damn, he's cute.
ReplyDeleteIsn't he? ..lol.
ReplyDeleteA great photo nevertheless. Looks Like he's out of a Caravaggio painting..
Muqtada Al Sadr/Chalabi are not running alone this time. They are running jointly with ISCI/Badr.
ReplyDeleteThe latest polls place them at 17% (Muqtada/Chalabi/ISCI); versus about 40% in the current parliament.
The latest rumor in Iraq is that Khamanei has encouraged Muqtada/Chalabi/ISCI to support Allawi to be PM.
Allawi was Iraq's PM from June, 2004 to April, 2005. Allawi was the first prime minister of a sovereign Iraq after Saddam Hussein. He was selected by the United Nations chief envoy Brahimi. Allawi was an important leader of the Iraqi resistance 1980-2003 in the great Iraqi civil war. Allawi has admitted to accepting help from 15 countries to defeat the evil Saddam, including Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and America.
Interestingly Iran was behind Allawi becoming the first PM of a sovereign Iraq in May and June of 2004.
"Polls also have the secularist INL continuing to do surprisingly well, <span>despite the loss of its key Sunni allies in the “Ba’athist” affiliation bannings</span>."
ReplyDeleteAmong the banned candidates 60% were Sunni Muslims and 40% were Shi'a however all of the banned candidates are members of secular and liberal parties and not a single member of a Sunni or Shi'a religious party was banned.
The attempted banning of candidates is troubling. Hope they eventually get to run; all except the most hard core Baa3thists.
ReplyDelete