November 23rd, 2009 by Zack

Reuters is reporting that the Iraqi Parliament has failed to address VP Tareq al-Hashemi‘s veto regarding a new election law.  There are only few days left to do so as the law must be passed 60 days before January 23, which the Shi’ite majority has established as the last possible day to hold elections.  The article explains any delay in elections past the constitutionally mandated January 30th deadline “could set a dangerous precedent that might be exploited in the future by a would-be strongman, disinclined to hold a scheduled election.”

The Democratic Piece has published a post explaining the power-sharing structure in Iraq that allowed the presidential council to veto the bill and argues that entire drama is a game of political brinksmanship that will continue to delay the consolidation of Iraqi democracy.  Juan Cole relates an Al-Hayat article that reports one issue the parliament discussed was the constitutionality of the veto itself, given that the Iraq constitutional court overturned the veto on the grounds that al-Hashemi is attempting to favor expatriots in the elections.

Ryan Lucas with AP reports that  Sheikh Abdel-Mehdi al-Karbalaie, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, spoke out against the impasse at Friday prayers and called for “political blocs to reach a reasonable solution” in order to avoid a “constitutional vacuum.” As a result of the political back-and-forth, IraqPundit tells a story of the disdain local Iraqis have for parliamentarians and the sense that “change is coming, and everyone knows it.”

Fears about insurgents and violence grow as the Washington Post reports that Al-Qaeda has regrouped and changed its tactics from inciting sectarian violence to focusing on high-profile attacks designed to cripple the Iraqi government ahead of elections and the U.S. withdrawal.  The At War blog at the NY Times argues that the recent attacks are political maneuvers designed to weaken PM Nouri al-Maliki whose campaigns rest largely on his ability to restore and maintain security.  Juan Cole points to a recent confession from Baathist insurgents behind the October 25 bombing that killed 125 people to argue that the U.S. is deliberately blaming Al-Qaeda for all violence because to do otherwise “would be an admission that the US has been fighting Iraqi citizens all along, and because it is also an implicit confession that the war on the Baath was never completely won.”  Cole sees al-Maliki’s stresses on Baathist culpability as a propaganda tactic against a revived Arab nationalist trend.

Posted in Elections, Iraq, Islam and Democracy, Legislation, Political Parties, Reform, Sectarianism, US foreign policy, al-Qaeda |