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Secular Coalition in Iraq Suspends Campaigning Over Candidate Bans

   VOA News 13 February 2010
   An  Iraqi  man  walks  past  posters with an symbolic X across for the
   Iraqi  lawmaker  Dhaver al-Ani, a Sunni politician who has been barred
   from  running  in  the  election  because of alleged ties to the Baath
   party, in Najaf, south of Baghdad

Photo: AP

   In  this Jan 20, 2010 file photo, an Iraqi man walks past posters with
   an  symbolic  X  across  for the Iraqi lawmaker Dhaver al-Ani, a Sunni
   politician who has been barred from running in the election because of
   alleged ties to the Baath party, in Najaf, south of Baghdad

   A  prominent  secular  coalition  in  Iraq  has  announced it will not
   campaign  for  the  March  7  general  election  after  several of its
   candidates  were  disqualified  for  alleged ties to late Iraqi leader
   Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party.
   The  Iraqiya  list  of former prime minister Iyad Allawi said Saturday
   the ban creates a poor climate for the political process.
   Two  prominent  Sunni  parliamentarians  from  the Iraqiya list, Saleh
   al-Mutlak and Dhaver al-Ani, are among the disqualified candidates.
   Analysts  say  the  ban  could  re-ignite  sectarian  tensions between
   majority Shi'ite Muslims and Sunnis, who dominated Iraq under Saddam.
   Campaigning  began  Friday as the first official campaign posters were
   plastered across Baghdad.
   Later  that  day,  Iraqi health officials said a series of bomb blasts
   killed  six  people  and  wounded  at  least 35 others in Kufa, on the
   outskirts of the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.
   Also  Friday, the British Defense Ministry said eight Iraqis have been
   arrested  and will stand trial in connection with the 2003 killings of
   six British military police officers in a remote Iraqi town.
   The  British  military  police officers were killed by an Iraqi mob in
   the  town  of  Majar  al-Kabir  nearly  seven  years ago.  The British
   Defense Ministry says it is committed to seeing the killers brought to
   justice  and is helping the Iraqi government secure convictions of the
   suspects.
   Separately,  the  U.S.  military said five people were killed during a
   joint  raid  with  Iraqi  forces in a village near the Iranian border.
   The  U.S.  military  said  those  killed  were suspected members of an
   Iranian-backed  militant  group.   But  local  officials said at least
   eight  people  died,  mostly  civilians.   No  other  information  was
   immediately available.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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