IRAQ: As lists of candidates are drawn up for January elections, few of their names are yet known, writes Michael Jansen.
While 70 political parties, alliances and hundreds of individuals in Iraq have so far filed to run in parliamentary elections on January 30th, the names of most of the candidates remain secret.
Last week, one man whose candidacy was known, Sattar Jabar of Iraq's Hizbullah movement, was assassinated. On Friday, three other members of the group were killed and there was an attempt on the life of Yahya Hashim al- Husseini, an official of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, an influential component of the United Iraqi Alliance sponsored by Shia Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
When the 23-member alliance registered its list with the authorities, the names and positions on the list of only a handful of candidates were leaked. It is headed by Sayed Ali Hakim, the ayatollah's representative in Basra.
The second slot was given to Sayed Abdel Aziz Hakim of the Supreme Council, the fourth to the interim Vice President, Mr Ibrahim Jaafari of the Dawa party, the seventh to Dr Hussein Shahristani, who compiled the list, and the 10th to Mr Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress.
Shia Kurds and Turkomen and Sheikh Fawaz Jarba, a leading figure in the Shemmar, a tribe divided between Sunnis and Shias, also joined the alliance. However the charismatic cleric, Sayed Moqtada al-Sadr, who staged a revolt against the US occupation last summer, not only refused to align himself with it but also urged Iraqis not to participate in the poll.
He warned that elections based on sectarianism would exacerbate communal tensions and called for an "Iraqi election" which did not distinguish between Shia and Sunni.
The Association of Muslim Scholars, the leading Sunni grouping, continues to press for a boycott but most of the 17 Sunni parties and independents favouring postponement of the poll registered on Saturday. The Iraqi Islamic Party and the Rally for Iraqi National Union, founded by the leader of a Kurdish Sunni sufi sect, put forward candidates for all 275 seats in the assembly.
The Turkomen Front fielded a list of 63 and the Arab National Democrats, a secular party established 50 years ago, a list of 12.
The Communist Party, the oldest in Iraq and now calling itself the Union of the People, put forward a list of 275 drawn from all ethnic and religious groups. The Democratic Coalition of Rafidain (Mesopotamia) has 12 candidates from two of Iraq's eight Christian parties. The Rally of the Nation, headed by a prominent Shia, listed 227 candidates and the Justice and Future group, 275 names.
The Kurdish Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan plan to submit a single slate.
A leading figure in the Association of Muslim Scholars, Sheikh Hareth Dari, is sharply critical of the single constituency model combined with proportional representation because turnout could determine result.
If any community does not participate fully, it could be under- represented and unable to play its proper role in the drafting of the new constitution. Sunni voters could also be unable to register or vote, he said, due to the lack of security in their areas, one-third of the country. Other Sunnis resent that they are being forced to participate in a poll which the United Iraqi Alliance, the largest and most influential Shia contender, is likely to win.