U.S. Is Haunted by Initial Plan For Iraq Voting

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 - In its struggle to transfer sovereignty back to Iraq last spring, the Bush administration made some tough decisions about the makeup of the political system and how Iraqi elections could occur quickly and fairly. But now a little-noticed decision on election procedures has come back to haunt administration officials, just weeks before the vote is to take place, administration and United Nations officials say.

The fundamental decision set up one nationwide vote for a new national assembly, rather than elections by districts and provinces. With a violent insurgency spreading through the Sunni Arab areas of the country, it now looks as if fewer Sunnis will vote, distorting the balance of the legislature and casting doubt on whether the election will be seen as legitimate.

According to officials planning the election, the decision was driven by the realities of an unstable Iraq and the unrelenting pressure to speed the country to a vote by the end of January 2005, as demanded by many Iraqis. To make that deadline, it was believed, there was no time to conduct a census or go through the politically divisive chore of drawing district lines.

A national constituency also made it easier to meet the demands of the former exiles installed in power in Baghdad to let millions of Iraqis living outside the country vote, and the demands of others to ensure that 25 percent of the legislators were women. The experts reasoned that it would be much easier to find women for slates running nationwide than for each of many smaller districts.
...
But now, with the violent insurgency and more than 7,000 candidates, many in alliances with other candidates, running for 275 seats nationwide, the disadvantages of the current system are becoming all too apparent, according to American, Iraqi and United Nations officials........

http://nytimes.com/2005/01/09/international/middleeast/09diplo.html?hp&ex=1105246800&en=e2e068b90b81f157&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Connie_Corleone]

1. Can't this administration do ANYTHING right??

I remember earlier last year that experts on TV said that elections by districts was the best way.

[acmavm]

2. I assume your question was either rhetorical or sarcasm. Because we

all know that the only things that they can accomplish would earn them a jail cell if this country was being run by honest people.

[LynnTheDem]

3. Wow...FACTUAL reporting; "former exiles installed in power"

Now if they'd mentioned the fact that Allawi is also a former (CIA-sponsored) TERRORIST who went around Iraq organizing CAR BOMBINGS, then I might think there was some sliver of hope left for our MSM.

Oh yes...and if they made a wee little mention that it was ALLAWI who lied that Iraq could launch WMD "within 45 minutes".

[louis-t]

9. "it was ALLAWI who lied that Iraq..."

I'm pretty sure that it was Chalabi.

[LynnTheDem]

10. It was Allawi.

The Times reports that Allawi enjoys the support of both the CIA and the State Department, both of which distrust Chalabi.

Moreover, Allawi has some involvement with at least one intelligence failure:

The INA is best-known in Britain for passing on to MI6 a report from an Iraqi officer who made the now-infamous claim that Saddam could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.

http://www.tagorda.com/archives/003359.php

Aljazeera.Net - Profile: Iyad Allawi
... Allawi formed the Iraqi National Accord (INA) in 1991 ... who made the now-infamous claim
that Iraq could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/11B3FAB3-779F-4969-BDE1-53B8A4CC99F0.htm

[louis-t]

11. I stand corrected, thanks.

[dkofos]

4. The Iraqi elections will be more of fraudulent joke than 11/2

or the elections in Afganistan

Let's call it now

Alawi wins with 51% of the vote

[BlackCoffeeSound]

5. ??

Seriously, if they elect someone like Osama, do we have to respect that and get the hell out of there? What are we gonna do? Swear him in and cuff him? If the Iraqi people choose a total radical cleric to lead them, we have to respect that right?

Wait, I forgot how "elections" are these days.....

[underpants]

7. Expect the Communist/Socialists to do very well in the Iraq election

We tried to warn them about letting W play with the dominoes-he is getting that a** backwards too.

Welcome to DU :hi:

[damntexdem]

6. Any procedural problems in the upcoming so-called elections ...

are the tip of the iceberg. It's just more imcompetence in the commission of a crime. We need to stay focused on the crime.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

8. It's simple, really...

Just use the same division lines Cheney's energy task force used in their map divvying up the country for the oil barons.

At least it would reduce the hypocricy a (very) small amount...