US Proposes Guaranteed Posts to Iraq's Sunnis: Paper

The administration also raised with Iraqi officials the possibility of adding some of the top Sunni vote-getters in the general elections, due on 30 January, to the275 -member parliament even if they lose to non-Sunni candidates, according to The New York Times.

“There's a willingness to play with the end result - not changing the numbers, but maybe guaranteeing that a certain number of seats go to Sunni areas even if their candidates did not receive a certain percentage of the vote,” an administration official told The Times on conditions of anonymity.

Officials admitted that it would be difficult to add Sunni candidates to the future legislature, but said it would be necessary to avoid the Sunni estrangement, said The Times.

The Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), the highest Sunni religious authority in Iraq, called for a boycott of the vote, citing the impossibility of organizing fair elections held under current deteriorating conditions.

The Islamic Party, a major Sunni political player, and other smaller groups have signaled readiness to vie in the elections, leaving most Sunnis caught in the dilemma of to vote or not to vote .

Iraqis will choose a275 -member assembly on January30 , which will write a permanent constitution.

If adopted in a referendum next year, the constitution would form the legal basis for another general elections to be held by December, 2005 .

Shiite Concerns

A western diplomat said the issue was already raised with an aide to Iraq's most respectable Shiite scholar Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, The Times said.

He said Shiite politicians were also concerned that a massive elections victory by the Shiites, effectively shutting Iraqi Sunnis out of power, could trigger more problems in the war-torn country.

It was not known whether interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allaw had been consulted on the issue.

Iraq’s major Shiite groups unveiled Thursday, December9 , a much-talked-about unified list of 228 candidates to vie in the general elections, with the absence of anti-occupation young Shiite leader Muqtada Al-Sadr.

The United Iraqi Alliance, backed by Al-Sistani, includes the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Dawa Party and the Iraqi National Congress, led by one-time Pentagon favorite Ahmad Chalabi.

Top Shiite scholars, including Sistani himself, have threatened to withhold support for the interim government if the elections were postponed.

Representatives of several Iraqi parties and leading political figures have been campaigning for a six-month delay of the vote over the increasing deteriorating security conditions.

UN Iraqi envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned that holding the elections would be impossible unless “first and foremost security improves.”

Mohammad Al-Askari, an Iraqi military and political Iraqi expert, told IslamOnline.net on Tuesday, November30 , that Shiites believe it is high time they ’dominated the countrys political landscape after years of marginalization under the reign of ousted president Saddam Hussein.

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