U.S. Tries to Give Moderates an Edge in Iraqi Elections
By EDWARD WONG
Published: January 18, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 17 — As they head into a crucial meeting at the United Nations, American officials are struggling to cobble together an electoral process that will favor Iraqi moderates in the transfer of sovereignty just five and a half months away.
Complicating the task, the Americans feel pressure to satisfy a caldron of restive Shiites, Kurds hungering for autonomy and Sunni Arabs who fear being marginalized.
The most immediate pressure is coming from the most revered Shiite Muslim cleric in Iraq, who has demanded a general election for a transitional assembly by May 31. Such an election would be rushed and could lead to chaos, a senior official with the Coalition Provisional Authority said, allowing the most organized political groups — hard-line Islamic parties or, much less likely, splinters of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party — to seize power.
"There's not enough time for the moderates to organize," he added.
The political process favored by American officials calls for caucus-style elections for a transitional assembly that would then appoint an interim government by June 30. That arrangement was laid out in an agreement reached on Nov. 15 between the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Governing Council.
But in recent weeks, Shiite Muslim religious leaders and Kurdish politicians, among the strongest supporters of the American-led invasion, have jeopardized the blueprint by making vocal demands for political rights. In agreeing to meet with United Nations officials and members of the Governing Council on Monday, Bush administration officials are desperately trying to keep that process on track and win international legitimacy for it.
