“I’m afraid that the new Iraqi government will be a replica of the US-handpicked and now dissolved Interim Governing Council,” said Daraji.

By Mazen Ghazi, IOL Correspondent

BAGHDAD, February 6 (IslamOnline.net) – The future Iraqi government would lack the needed legitimacy, being formed under occupation and being the outcome of “semi-legitimate” election, a spokesman for Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr said on Sunday, February 6.

“I’m afraid that the new Iraqi government will be a replica of the US-handpicked and now dissolved Interim Governing Council,” Abdel Hadi Al-Daraji told IslamOnline.net.

“It would also lack the needed legitimacy to exist, which must be derived from the people’s consent and not from the occupation troops.”

Daraji stressed that UN resolutions recognize Iraq as a country under foreign occupation.

“In Mr. Sadr’s words: ‘The occupiers are doctoring the election results,’ and therefore we don’t believe in the fairness of the polls,” he added.

Daraji underlined that Sadr’s position on the elections remained unchanged.

“We don’t take part in any political process taking place under an occupying power, but we didn’t call for an election boycott in order not to pit Iraqis against one another.”

In a recent live dialogue with IOL’s visitors, Sheikh Hassan Al-Zarqani, the media officer of the Al-Sadr Office, warned that the election ran the risk of a deadly sectarian conflict.

The elections will determine the composition of a 275-member National Assembly that must name a president and two vice presidents who would later agree on a prime minister and appoint a cabinet.

The assembly is also in charge of drafting the country’s new constitution.

Electoral Commission officials said Saturday, February 5, that the final results would be announced within five days.

Poor Turnout

Daraji further cast doubts on the 60 percent turnout claimed by the Electoral Commission.

“I do believe that this percentage is accurate given that a great number of eligible voters have boycotted the polls,” he told IOL.

Mahdi Ibrahim, a prominent member of the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), the highest Sunni religious authority, has strongly challenged British and US claims that the election was a success, putting at no more than 30 percent turnout.

Most Sunni powers, along with several Shiite and communist groups, shunned the controversial vote.

They maintained that fair elections could never be organized with occupation troops on Iraqi soil.

Constitution

Asked whether his group would help draft the country’s new constitution, Daraji said the matter is being negotiated with political powers and parties, including those who boycotted the election.

The AMS conditioned any participation in the wording of the constitution on a fixed timetable for the withdrawal of US-led occupation troops.

A senior AMS official told IOL last week that anti-occupation Sunni powers could wield a veto power if they were marginalized in drafting the constitution by the Shiites and the Kurds.

According to many observers, much of the success of the post-election period will depend on the level of involvement of the Sunni community.

Under rules agreed last year, an October referendum to ratify that draft will fail if two-thirds of the voters in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces give it the thumbs-down.

Sunnis' numerical strength in at least three provinces north and west of Baghdad gives them such power.

Daraji further called reconciliation efforts between Iraq’s ethnic and religious mosaic a “necessary and positive step.”

“But it should have taken place a long time ago and given more attention than the election,” he said.

Daraji, however, said the reconciliation process should be all-inclusive and supervised by different religious authorities.

Sadr Inclusion

“He [Sadr] has a large number of followers. We can involve them,” said Jaaffri.

Meanwhile, a senior Shiite leader with the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which leads in the election’s initial results and is backed by the country’s top Shiite authority Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani, cited the possibility of including Al-Sadr’s group in the would-be government.

“He [Sadr] has a large number of followers. We can involve them. If they are not killers, and if we have no evidence against them, then we can give them a chance to share in the political process,” Ibrahim Al-Jaaffri, a strong candidate for the prime minister post, told the Daily Telegraph on Sunday.

He praised Sadr as a “good person” who could play a constructive role in the new Iraq.

Last spring, the US occupation authorities were insisting that Sadr be “killed or captured” following bloody clashes between his Mahdi Army fighters and occupation forces.

After four months of pitched battles, Sadr ordered his militiamen to disarm and leave Imam Ali Shrine in the holy city of Najaf as part of a deal brokered by Sistani.

Jaaffri, who lived in exile in Britain before the US-led invasion of Iraq, further said there could be a role for leaders of Iraq's Sunnis who boycotted the elections.

“We have Sunni brothers who do not believe in elections and we respect them. We think they are very honest and talk frankly.”