Month: February 2005

Juan Cole has worked out some numbers for seats by party:

• United Iraqi Alliance (Shiite): 133 seats
• Kurdish Alliance: 71
• Iraqiya (Allawi = Secular Shiites) 38
• Iraqiyyun (al-Yawir= Sunni Arabs) 5
• Turkmen Front of Iraq 3
• Cadres and the Chosen (Sadrist Shiites) 3
• People’s Union (Communist) 3
• Kurdish Islamic Coalition 2
• Organization of Islamic Action (Shiite) 2
• Democratic National Alliance (Abd Faisal Ahmad) 1
• National Mesopotamian List (Christian) 1
• Welfare and Liberation Bloc (Mash’an al-Juburi, Sunni) 1
• Caucus for Iraqi National Unity (Nahru Muhammad Abdul Karim, Sunni) 1
• Independent Democrats (Adnan Pachachi, Sunni) 1
• Iraqi Islamic Party (Muhsin Abdul Hamid, Sunni; had withdrawn) 1
• Islamic Dawa Movement (splinter of Dawa, headed by Adil Majid) 1
• Iraqi National Caucus (Husain Muhammad Abdullah) 1
• Constitutional Monarchy Movement (Sharif Ali b. Husain) 1
• Royal Iraqi Hashimi Caucus (Sharif Ma’mul al-Naysan) 1
• National Democratic Alliance (Malik Duhan al-Hasan) 1
• Democratic Iraqi Caucus (Ahmad Jabir Abdullah) 1
• National Front for Iraqi Unity 1

See his post here for the details of how it works out.

“Sgt. Curtis Greene loved the military; the structure, the stability. But eight months in Iraq changed him. And the thought of returning led him to a stark proclamation.”

On 3rd February 2003, as part of ongoing resistance at Shannon Airport, the Pitstop Ploughshares disarmed a US warplane. Within the month, three of the four companies contracted to ferry US troops and weapons had left Ireland. The Pitstop Ploughshares are currently out on bail. Their trial will take
place in Dublin’s Four Courts on March 7th 2005.

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Numbers being reported by most wire services:

• UIA, the main Shiite list: 47.6 per cent
• PUK/KDP Kurdish coalition: 25.4 per cent
• Allawi’s list: 13.6 per cent.

Reuters:

Overall turnout was 8.55 million votes, which was 58 percent of those registered to vote. The Shi’ite United Iraqi Alliance won 4.075 million votes, the Kurds won 2.175 million and Allawi’s list won 1.168 million, according to the tally released by the Electoral Commission on Sunday.

MSNBC reports:

Officials said that only 3,775 valid votes were cast in the insurgency-plagued Sunni province of Anbar.

That means the minority that dominated Iraq under Saddam Hussein will have few seats in the 275-member assembly that will be formed by the election — and little political influence.

Which underestimates the political influence of bombs and guns, doesn’t it?

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UPDATE: AP reports:

The United Iraqi Alliance (Shiite alliance backed by Shiite Muslim clergy): 4,075,295

The Kurdistan Alliance (coalition of two main Kurdish factions): 2,175,551

The Iraqi List (headed by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi): 1,168,943

Iraqis (headed by interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer): 150,680

The Turkomen Iraqi Front (represents the countries ethnic Turks): 93,480

National Independent Elites and Cadres Party: 69,938

The Communist Party: 69,920

The Islamic Kurdish Society: 60,592

The Islamic Labor Movement in Iraq: 43,205

The National Democratic Alliance: 36,795

National Rafidain List (Assyrian Christians): 36,255

The Reconciliation and Liberation Entity: 30,796

Iraqi Islamic Party (main Sunni group headed by Mohsen Abdel-Hamid): 21,342

Assembly of Independent Democrats (headed by Sunni elder statesman Adnan Pachachi): 12,728

National Democratic Party (headed by Naseer Kamel al-Chaderchi, Sunni lawyer and member of the former Iraqi Governing Council): 1,603

Total votes: 8,550,571

Invalid votes: 94,305

___

Source: Iraq’s election commission.

Senators Feinstein and Boxer ‘Disappointed’ that Final BRAC Criteria Do Not Reflect California Legislators’ Concerns

“The DoD’s base closure criteria are out of touch with reality and threaten the military readiness of the country,” Senator Boxer said. “The DoD does not rule out the mothballing of military bases which is a waste of military assets and could cause huge economic downturns; the DoD does not take into account the prior four rounds of base closures that disproportionately affected certain regions and they pay no attention to the surrounding intellectual infrastructure that is so necessary to our national security. I will work with my California colleagues at the state and federal level to fight for our state’s critical military installations.”

Well, war has broken out yet again in Mosul, but never mind all that because finally, two weeks after the “elections” we are promised results, allegedly by tomorrow morning. The suspense is a killer, but by tomorrow, we might know by what margin Ayatollah Sistani has won control of Iraq! The indispensable and indefatigable lenin has a roundup of Iraqi election news that really sets the tone for the big news tomorrow.

We’re told that after the results are announced, there will be three days for lodging complaints, which should be an interesting three days, considering the protests disenfranchised Iraqis have held this week.