News Saturday, 27 March 2010
Power struggle blights Iraq poll Iyad Allawi, the secular strongman who narrowly won Iraq?s general election. A POWER struggle between Iyad Allawi, the secular strongman who narrowly won Iraq’s general election, and Nouri al-Maliki, the incumbent prime minister, has threatened to dash hopes of a stable new government. Maliki, whose Shi’ite-dominated State of Law party lost by 10,000 votes to Allawi’s Iraqiya coalition, vowed to challenge the March 7 ballot in the courts. He said he would start legal proceedings, complain to Iraq’s electoral commission and demand a manual recount of some votes. Few doubt Maliki’s resolve. He withdrew from the powerful United Iraqi Alliance, a Shi’ite coalition, to set up his independent party because the alliance would not guarantee him the prime minister’s job if it won. Nor is Allawi, a secular Shi’ite who forged a coalition with Sunni support for his surprise win, likely to back down. There were fears yesterday that their looming confrontation may create a power vacuum that would open the way to a campaign of violence by insurgents. Serious conflict would derail American plans to withdraw its troops from the country Allawi appeared yesterday to be moving swiftly to avoid protracted bargaining. “We hope . . . to form the government as quickly as possible,” he said, promising “a government that is capable of providing security and to offer the appropriate services to its people”. Neither of the leading blocs came close to a majority in the 325-seat parliament. Iraqiya won 91 seats, Maliki’s State of Law 89 and a third grouping, the Iraqi National Alliance, 70. All eyes will now be on Maliki. Whatever olive branch Allawi is offering for Maliki’s State of Law to join the government, it is unlikely to include the offer of a prime ministerial post.
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