So who exactly are the candidates running in these elections??

[leftyandproud]

I have yet to see a general profile anywhere on the people being voted on.

What are their platforms?

How did they qualify for the ballot (local petitions, etc?

Are there any religious wackos out there who really dislike the USA? (Taliban-types)

[LynnTheDem]

1. No one knows. It's a secret.

[rodeodance]

3. they are voting for a party PARTY (and their platform). I saw a summary

somewhere on the net a few days ago. \
A spokesperson for the Workers Party was on TV yesterday.

[LynnTheDem]

6. They're voting for a transitional party to rewrite the Iraqi Constitution

NOT for an Iraqi govt, NOT for an Iraqi leader, and most the names of who's in which party are unknown, as are the party platforms.

The party voted in WILL NOT be the govt of Iraq.

Most Americans, including on this board, seem unaware of this fact.

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. I noticed that.

This is all dog and pony show to trumpet a glorious return to democracy in a country rescued by America from the clutches of tyranny. Too cynical?

[LynnTheDem]

11. I'm confused why anyone (esp DUers) would think a temp group to rewrite

Iraq's Constitution would have any authority to tell US troops to stay or go or anything else.

Again & again on here I see DUers hoping the "new leader" or "new government of Iraq" will ask troops to get out.

WHAT "new leader"??? WHAT "new government"??? That's not what they're voting for!

Ah well. As the violance continues and increases, and as troops & Iraqis continue to die, this "election" will be seen exactly as bush's Mission Accomplised, and Saddam's capture and handover of sovereignty; total bullshit.

And violance will escalate and more troops and Iraqis will continue to die...

[arcos]

2. Most names are secret...

and supposedly will be released after the election. It wouldn't surprise me if they backed down and refused to say who the new leaders are :eyes:

[LynnTheDem]

7. As they're not voting for leaders in the first place, there's no need to

give any names.

lol!

They're voting for a temporary group of Iraqis to rewrite the Iraq Constitution.

Next year, supposedly, this temporary group will select another group to select an Iraqi president & government.

[arcos]

12. Well, members of a constitutional convention are indeed leaders...

Even within a party there are lots of differences, and the names of the individuals are very important.

[LisaL]

15. Well, it kind of makes sense, cause those newly elected

leaders want to live. Well, poor Iraqis went to the polls and voted for some numbers, apparently. But election was a huge success. I wonder what number won.
:eyes:

[pippin]

4. They are suicidal

Anyone who is running must have a strong death wish.

[Mike Niendorff]

5. well, let's see :

Allawi
Allawi
Allawi
Allawi
Allawi
Allawi

oh, and last but not least:

Allawi


MDN

[durablend]

9. You left out Allawi

But I think we can all forgive your ignorance :evilgrin:

[izzie]

10. It is a real blind vote.

If they are for the 14 bases they will win.

[kendall]

13. Actually it's pretty interesting

They are voting for parties - each of these parties has a list of members. After the election, the number of people from each parties list to be chosen is determined by the percentage of votes that party received, and the party decides who gets seelcted from the list to move on. An interesting twist is that every fourth person (at least, they could of course choose more) selected from each party must be female.

I think just about anyone could have a party (which is why there were so many). There are definatley some very anti-US groups in there, there's even a communist party with a significant following. I'm not sure what the criteria was, perhaps signatures on a petition to avoid having the "Party of Bob, by Bob for Bob and benefitting Bob alone".

[JanMichael]

14. I've read that only 7% of people polled could name a candidate.

This was from a Baghdad paper a few days/weeks ago.

I'll try to find it.