KIRKUK - Arab political leaders in Kirkuk bemoaned their dismal showing from last week’s elections, blaming the Shiite-led government in Baghdad and saying they had lost many votes due to the security situation.
Munshid al-Assi, spokesman of the mainly Sunni Arab Alliance, accused Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the Iraqi army of failing to protect the roads and polling stations, which he said “caused a decrease in the number of Arab votes.”
Al-Assi said that in some areas polling stations had opened their doors only after 2 pm.
“Maliki dealt the Arabs of Kirkuk a deadly blow,” al-Assi told reporters at a news conference.
His list is mainly made of Sunni tribes and local politicians from across the province. According to al-Assi, the Shiite premier had sponsored the creation of a new list by the same name (the Arab Alliance) just before the elections.
Al-Assi said that this new name had confused voters and “dispersed the Arab vote in Kirkuk.”
The oil-rich and multi-ethnic province of Kirkuk is also home to a considerable Arab population, mainly residing in the rural areas and around towns outside the provincial capital.
The Arabs of Kirkuk are mainly Sunnis and considered native inhabitants of the area, unlike many Arab families who were settled in the area by the former regime of Saddam Hussein as part of his Arabization project.
Al-Assi and other smaller groups have their grievances against Baghdad and Maliki’s Shiite-led government, which they accuse of withholding public services in their areas, random arrests of Sunnis and discrimination in employment.
According to al-Assi the lack of security for Arab voters during Wednesday’s parliamentary polls was another move by the Iraqi prime minister against the province’s Sunni population, who were determined to stand up to Baghdad through the ballot box.
“We ask the electoral commission to take a stance against these violations,” al-Assi told the media. “In the Arab areas the staff of the commission didn’t even know how to operate the voting machines and the local people had to do it themselves.”
Early counts from the polling show that the Arab Alliance has secured 30,000 votes in the entire province. Meanwhile, the new list, supposedly sponsored by Maliki, is believed to have won two parliamentary seats.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment