IRAQ: Iraq's Arab Sunnis will do a U-turn and join the political process despite their lack of representation in the newly-elected national assembly, Sunni leaders said yesterday.
Many Sunnis protested that the election was flawed and unfair, but in the wake of Sunday's results, which confirmed the marginalisation of what was Iraq's ruling class, their political parties want to lobby for a share of power.
"Our view is that this election was a step towards democracy and ending the occupation," said Mr Ayad al-Samaray, the assistant general secretary of the Iraqi Islamic party. He said unnamed Sunni leaders blundered in depicting the election as a deepening of the occupation.
The insurgency ravaging Iraq is based in Sunni areas, and there were fears that the violence would escalate if the once-dominant minority was further alienated. A call by clerics for a boycott, and threats by insurgents, meant very few Sunnis voted in the January 30th poll.
Having endured the brunt of US attacks in towns such as Falluja and Ramadi, many derided the ballot as an attempt to legitimise a foreign occupation. The consequent landslide for the Shias and Kurds means that they will drive the new government and the drafting of a constitution.
An alliance of cleric-backed Shias won 48 per cent of the vote, which could give it a wafer-thin majority in the 275-seat assembly.
Kurds won 26 per cent, and a slate headed by the outgoing prime minister, Mr Iyad Allawi, won almost 14 per cent. All three blocs have promised to reach out to the Sunnis, who comprise a fifth of the population.
Secular Sunni leaders yesterday accepted the victors' invitation to participate, potentially draining support from the insurgency. "We can't say it was wise or logical to not participate; it was an emotional decision," said Mr Samaray.
"Now the Sunni community faces the fact that it made a big mistake and that it would have been far better to participate."
His party, the main Sunni group since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, was in talks with Kurds and Shias.
"The Sunni community will accept to share this country with others," he added. "They do not need to dominate."
Insurgents launched more attacks yesterday. A roadside bomb killed three Iraqi soldiers in Baquba, gunmen killed two policemen in Mosul, mortars wounded three policemen in Baghdad, and an explosion ripped open an oil pipeline near Kirkuk. - (Guardian Service)