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Iraqi officials confirm Sunni candidate ban
Iraqi officials confirmed yesterday that appeals by prominent Sunni politicians against a move to ban them from next month's election had failed, opening the door to sectarian recriminations that could mar the vote. Many Iraqi Sunnis are alarmed by a campaign by the Shia-led government against people accused of links to former Sunni president Saddam Hussein's Baath party, and a decision by a panel to ban almost 500 candidates because of Baathist links.
The controversy has threatened to reopen old wounds just when the sectarian slaughter triggered by the 2003 US invasion has begun to fade and Iraq has started to attract multibillion-dollar investments from global oil firms. Usama Al Ani, deputy head of the independent electoral commission, or IHEC, said the agency had received a formal notification from an appeals panel that only 26 appeals by banned candidates had been successful.
One hundred and forty-five appeals were rejected, he said. Other candidates had been voluntarily replaced by their parties.