Egypt meddles in Iraq election - says "Divisive"

Egypt Says Iraq Vote in Stages Would Be Divisive

Cairo (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt said on Wednesday holding Iraqi elections in stages would create divisions between Iraq (news - web sites)'s religious and ethnic communities and split the country. Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in an interview published last week that elections could be staged over a two- or three-week period to make sure everyone gets the chance to cast ballots in secure conditions.

Egypt, the Arab world's most populous nation, hosted an international conference on Iraq in November which pressed the interim Iraqi government to make sure as many people as possible take part in the planned Jan. 30 elections.

"Holding elections in Iraq in stages means fracturing Iraq and creating factionalism, whether regional, political or ethnic between Sunnis, Shi'ites, Kurds and others," Egyptian presidential spokesman Maged Abdel Fattah told reporters.

"This is not in the interest of the Iraqi people," he added.

The Cairo-based Arab League said last month Iraqi national reconciliation should come before elections.

Mata Musing

Oh put a sock in it, would ja? Bush has already requested that Syria and Iran keep their respective noses out of the Iraqi election. Maybe he should consider making it a blanket call to all nations instead.

As for an election in stages, we need only look to our own voting process to see the Egyptian claims are absurd. We have states like Oregon that only vote by mail. We also offer absentee ballot options in every state.

To point out the obvious, our own election cycle can span weeks, even months. Yet the country is no more "split" than usual. Even less, in fact, when you consider Dubya won with 51% of the ballots - that's even more than Clinton, the darling of the int'l set, achieved with either of his elections.

While examining those doing the whining, it might be prudent to point out that Egypt, dominated by Sunni in population, might be more than worried about a Shi'ite win.

Nonetheless, Egypt has little business commenting on an Iraqi election. Their own President is chosen by the Egyptian parliment - or approximately 450 some odd people out of a population of 750 million. The results are then confirmed by a "popular referendum".

Considering their election process model bears no semblence to the more Westernized structure of the upcoming Iraq election, they should just put a sock in it and let Iraq do what they believe is best for themselves.

In the interim, the two major factions of Sunnis have signed on to participate in the upcoming election. This will lend the potential for more "legitimacy" to the elections in the eyes of a skeptical world community.

Elder Sunni statesman Adnan Pachachi, who had previously called for a postponement of the elections, said Wednesday he will take part. Pachachi, a former foreign minister, heads the Independent Democratic Gathering and said he would lead a list of at least 70 candidates.

Another Sunni group — the more religious Iraqi Islamic Party — has also put forward its owncandidates. Wednesday was the cutoff day for parties or independents to register as candidates in the elections