Iraq: Will New Iraqi Election Law Reignite Political Violence?

The decision by Iraq’s Justice and Accountability Commission to institute an electoral blacklist provoked threats of boycott from the “Iraqi List,” an influential organization with deep ties into the power structures of Iraqi politics. The leaders of the group issued a statement calling on “all those involved to correct this grave mistake as soon as possible in order to maintain the positive electoral atmosphere.” Though it avoided inflammatory language, the group ended with the rather ominous message that the ban “could jeopardize the electoral and political process.”

Robert Dreyfuss of the Nation worries that the enactment of this ban could incite, if not another civil war, perhaps a painful round of renewed political violence. He quotes Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi-born political analyst in Washington and a senior fellow at Peace Action, as saying “it will have catatrophic results, because it will push people to fight outside the system, rather than inside the system.”