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US presses for Sunnis in Iraq election
Washington is pressing neighboring countries to persuade Sunnis in Iraqto vote in next month's elections, Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Monday, the same day the top party from the minority group withdrew from the ballot.
Seeking to guide the elections from behind the scenes so that enough Sunnis turn out and give the new legislature legitimacy, the United States also suggested Iraqi leaders should give Sunnis government posts after the vote.
"We are encouraging all Sunnis to join in this effort, to say no to terrorism, no to murder, and yes to democracy," Powell said at a news conference. "We are also talking to all of our friends in the region, the neighboring countries that have influence and contacts with the Sunni community, to get them to encourage Sunni leaders to turn out the vote."
The Iraqi insurgency is fiercest in Sunni stronghold areas, raising concerns among the minority that dominated the country under Saddam Hussein they will be marginalized at the ballot box.
On Monday, the Iraqi Islamic Party cited intimidation as the main reason it was pulling out of the Jan. 30 election and said violence in the Sunni north and west meant the vote could not be free and fair. But the party did not specifically call for a boycott among the 20 percent Sunni Arab minority.
Voters will choose 275 members of a national assembly, which will appoint a new government to succeed the interim administration appointed in June by the U.S.-led occupiers.
Though many Sunnis want to vote, many are afraid to and the party's decision revives debate on how Washington and its Iraqi allies can achieve the sectarian balance, and legitimacy, of the assembly if Sunnis stay at home on polling day.
While Powell denied the United States wanted to create a voting mechanism for adding Sunni assembly seats, the top U.S. diplomat suggested Iraqi leaders should try to include Sunnis in the post-election government.
"For the government to be representative and for the government to be effective, the transitional national assembly would certainly have to take into account the ethnic mix of the country and find a way to make sure that all segments of the country believe that they are playing a proper role in the government," he said.
Despite the security concerns, Iraq's Shi'ite majority, oppressed by Saddam, is determined elections should go ahead on time in the knowledge the vote will hand them the lion's share of power. |
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