Now that we have a provincial election scheduled for early next year, it seems that as long as nothing changes in terms of security we could have elections with very little gamesmanship going on?
Crocker: I think you can safely predict that there will be gamesmanship going on. These elections are important at a number of levels and it’s very good that the election law was passed and a ‘not-later-than date’ set in January. They are important because they are the second round of elections. A single election does not a democracy make, multiple election do. In these elections, the incumbents are going to be fighting for their jobs. The second way in which they are significant is because of the boycotts surrounding the first provisional election, that left a lot of imbalances in certain key provincial councils in Diyala, Baghdad and Ninawa where Sunnis are dramatically underrepresented. It seems clear that as we approach these new elections, the Sunnis are going to turn out in force. There will also be issues in the province of Anbar, predominately Sunni — but because of the boycott — there are political forces in the province that did not contest past elections but will be doing s
Related Questions
- Now that we have a provincial election scheduled for early next year, it seems that as long as nothing changes in terms of security we could have elections with very little gamesmanship going on?
- Elections are scheduled for January 30, 2005. Who will be elected and will it make any difference in the security situation?
- How Can Provincial Elections Contribute Security in Iraq?
