Despite the election being set for January 30, some in Iraq are now petitioning for a delay.
Several political groups in Iraq are calling for the postponement of national elections, scheduled for January 30. The parties, mostly Sunni Muslim, Kurdish and secular groups, cited security concerns as their reason for calling for the delay.
Saying that the interim government cannot guarantee the safety of voters at polling stations, the groups are calling for the postponement of Iraq’s elections by up to six months.
A petition was signed Friday in Baghdad at the home of influential Sunni Muslim elder statesman Adnan Pachachi. Three interim government ministers attended the meeting.
The petition is the latest effort waged mostly by Iraq’s minority Sunni population to delay the elections, fearing that violence in Sunni Muslim areas, such as Fallujah, Baquba, Samarra, Tikrit and areas around Baghdad, would prevent Sunni Muslims from voting in January. Several Sunni groups have threatened to boycott the elections, if they are held in January.
Numerous Sunni clerics associations have repeatedly called for the elections to be postponed. However, most of Iraq’s majority Shiite Muslim population want to move forward with the elections, following decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein, who is a Sunni Muslim.
A senior official with Iraq’s Interior Ministry said holding the elections in January as planned would be a blow to insurgents in Iraq, who are attempting to prevent the elections from being held. The official said postponing the elections would only fuel the insurgency.
So now the threatened Sunni boycott is based on the expected security situation in January? Previously, it was to be based upon our going into Fallujah. We’ve done that and they’re still only threatening. The Sunnis want the election delayed because it will further entrench their minority status. The terrorists want the elections delayed indefinitely because it will bring the government to the people.
These elections need to go forward as soon as possible, and, right now, January seems possible.