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Iraqi Shi'ites Cheer Poll Results, Sunnis Worry

Posted on: Friday, 20 January 2006, 12:05 CST

By Ross Colvin

BAGHDAD -- As Shi'ites in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf cheered an election win on Friday with celebratory gunfire, 150 km (100 miles) to the north insurgents were attacking two U.S. bases in the Sunni Arab stronghold of Ramadi.

The contrasting responses to the release of the results of the December 15 poll illustrated the challenge facing a new government in healing the bitter sectarian divide between Iraq's majority Shi'ites and the once-dominant Sunni minority.

Many Shi'ites interviewed by Reuters regarded the release of the results as a formality, widely trailed by preliminary data and confirming a victory that, for them, was never in doubt.

But Sunnis were insistent they had been the victims of a massive poll fraud perpetrated by the ruling Shi'ite Islamist Alliance as well as by their ethnic Kurdish allies in the north.

Sheikh Qosai Al-Ramah, who led Friday prayers at the Sunni 14th of Ramadan mosque in central Baghdad, said he also suspected American interference in fixing the election.

"I think the Americans had a direct involvement in the results and the formation of the government. We will witness a new kind of dictatorship," he told Reuters.

Businessman Mohammad al-Saeedy, 45, attended Friday prayers at the mosque, and like other worshippers who spoke to Reuters afterwards, he said he believed the best hope for his country was a broadly inclusive government in which Sunnis had a voice.

"I expect the government will be a national unity one, which is better for all of us to resolve all Iraq's problems," he said, speaking in a courtyard at one of Baghdad's main mosques.

Taxi driver Mohammad Hassan, 33, echoed the concerns of many Sunni Arabs, who were politically dominant under Saddam Hussein but now fear being marginalised under a Shi'ite-led government:

"We need national unity to be achieved; we want to live in peace. We want the new prime minister to unify all of us."

The U.S. government is anxious for Sunnis to be included in a new government of national unity after they boycotted elections for an interim government in January 2005. They hope that a grand coalition will undermine a raging Sunni Arab insurgency and pave the way for them to withdraw their troops.

But the rebels, who called a ceasefire to allow fellow Sunnis to vote, are angry at the results, accusing the U.S.- backed Shi'ite Islamist-led government of rigging them.

IMPATIENT

The rebels apparently vented that anger on U.S. soldiers within minutes of Iraqi Electoral Commission official Safwat Rasheed appearing at a podium in Baghdad's Convention Center in the Green Zone government compound to read out the results.

Witnesses in Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, said insurgents fired several rockets at two U.S. bases in the city, a Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold.

It was not clear if there were any casualties and the U.S. military had no immediate comment.

In Najaf, Shi'ite Islam's holiest site in Iraq, residents greeted the release of the election results by firing shots in the air in traditional celebration.

In Kerbala, another Shi'ite holy city nearby, residents said they were impatient for a new government to get to work to improve security and supply electricity and water.

"The only thing we need is security," said shopkeeper Jabar Hummadi, 31. "We don't care about the results because they were previously settled," he added, referring to preliminary data which showed the Shi'ite Alliance would have a near-majority.

In Iraq's mainly Shi'ite second city of Basra, 550 km (340 miles) south of Baghdad, grocer Ahmed Tahir, 65, said joyfully: "The Alliance victory is a new festival for the Shi'ites."

But there was gloom in Falluja, a Sunni bastion 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad that was sealed off by Iraqi security forces on Friday to guard against insurgent attacks.

"This is a disappointment for Iraqis, because the Alliance is returned to power," student Mohammad Abdul Qadir, 32, said. "We are heading toward federalism and division."

(Reporting by Omar al-Ibadi in Baghdad, Abdel-Razzak Hameed in Basra, Fadel al-Badrani in Falluja and Sami al-Jumaili in Kerbala)

Source: REUTERS

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