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Iraqi Coalition, Kurd or Arab Presidency Debated as Election Tally Looms

by on March 9, 2010

By Caroline Alexander and Daniel Williams March 9 (Bloomberg) — Political maneuvering was under way in Iraq before initial results from the parliamentary election are announced, with early indications that no party would win a majority and tough coalition bargaining lies ahead. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi told a televised news conference in Baghdad that the next president of the country must be an Arab. “This country is Arab and an Arab should be on top,” he said. The current president is Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani , who has already declared his intention to stay on in the job. The president is elected by parliament. The main competitors are Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law alliance and the Iraqiya party of a former premier, Ayad Allawi . Coalition-building is essential to a U.S. plan to withdraw its troops as Iraq establishes a stable government. American officials insist the pullout will go ahead. Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission said it will announce preliminary results later today as districts that have tallied at least 30 percent of their votes report to Baghdad. Final results may not be certified until the end of the month. Turnout was 62.4 percent, the panel said. Al-Maliki’s and Allawi’s lists of candidates may each get less than a third of the 325 seats at stake, according to reports from Iraqi media. Allawi’s list is “neck and neck” with al-Maliki’s bloc, Allawi’s official spokeswoman, Maysoon al-Damluji, said today in a phone interview from Baghdad. “We are doing pretty well.” Al-Damluji said that Allawi’s group had success with voters in Baghdad and the western provinces. She declined to provide details until results are released. Al-Damluji is a lawmaker in the current parliament and a member of Allawi’s alliance. Sectarian, Ethnic Initial signs are that the election is breaking along sectarian and ethnic bounds. Al-Maliki’s alliance is leading in nine predominately Shiite Muslim provinces in the south, Sumaria Television reported. Abbas al-Bayati, an official from al- Maliki’s coalition, told the Associated Press the group also did well in the mixed city of Baghdad. Allawi’s Iraqiya, which campaigned for a non-sectarian Iraq, was winning in four mainly Sunni Muslim provinces in the center and north, Sumaria and the Iraq News Agency reported. Al- Hashemi is a Sunni from the Iraqiya party. Kurdish parties were sweeping the Kurds’ autonomous zone in the far northeast. Other Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni parties were running behind, the Iraqi broadcaster and news agency said. Oil Revenue Top government jobs, including the head of the influential Oil Ministry, will be at stake. The ruling coalition that emerges from the election will have to resolve disputes over sharing oil revenue among regions and whether to include the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the Kurdish autonomous region in the north, as well as cope with violence between Shiites and Sunnis. Iraq’s 115 billion-barrel oil reserves place it third behind Saudi Arabia and Iran. The country pumped about 2.4 million barrels a day last month, according to Bloomberg estimates. Once official results are announced, Talabani will have 15 days to convene a new parliament. The first session elects a speaker and two deputy speakers. Next, a new president is elected with a two-thirds majority. The new president has 15 days to task the leader of the largest bloc with forming a government. U.S. Troops Violence may escalate if the majority Shiites and the minority Sunni Muslims and Kurds aren’t all included in a coalition, said Ahmed Ali, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy . That would thwart U.S. ambitions to leave a stable Iraq as it withdraws its troops. U.S. troop strength will shrink from 96,000 to 50,000 by Sept. 1. All U.S. forces gone from Iraq by the end of 2011, under a schedule set last year by President Barack Obama . Parties will probably spend months haggling over the makeup of a coalition government, said Wael Abdel Latif of the National Iraqi Alliance, a major Shiite Muslim bloc. “The formation of the government may face big problems if the results are close and there is no clear winner,” Latif said in an interview yesterday in Baghdad. Preliminary results showed “a very close race,” he said. It could take more than six months to form a government, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said in a March 3 report. The parliamentary vote was the second since Saddam Hussein’s overthrow by U.S. forces in 2003. More than 6,200 candidates competed for seats in the legislature, the Council of Representatives. To contact the reporters on this story: Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net ; Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net .

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Iraqi Coalition, Kurd or Arab Presidency Debated as Election Tally Looms

Iraqi Politicians Jockey for Position Before Snapshot of Election Results

by on March 9, 2010

By Caroline Alexander and Daniel Williams March 9 (Bloomberg) — Political maneuvering was under way in Iraq before initial results from the parliamentary election are announced, with early indications that no party would win a majority and tough coalition bargaining lies ahead. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi told a televised news conference in Baghdad that the next president of the country must be an Arab. “This country is Arab and an Arab should be on top,” he said. The current president is Kurdish politician Jalal Talabani , who has already declared his intention to stay on in the job. The president is elected by parliament. The main competitors are Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law alliance and the Iraqiya party of a former premier, Ayad Allawi . Coalition-building is essential to a U.S. plan to withdraw its troops as Iraq establishes a stable government. American officials insist the pullout will go ahead. Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission said it will announce preliminary results later today as districts that have tallied at least 30 percent of their votes report to Baghdad. Final results may not be certified until the end of the month. Turnout was 62.4 percent, the panel said. Al-Maliki’s and Allawi’s lists of candidates may each get less than a third of the 325 seats at stake, according to reports from Iraqi media. Allawi’s list is “neck and neck” with al-Maliki’s bloc, Allawi’s official spokeswoman, Maysoon al-Damluji, said today in a phone interview from Baghdad. “We are doing pretty well.” Al-Damluji said that Allawi’s group had success with voters in Baghdad and the western provinces. She declined to provide details until results are released. Al-Damluji is a lawmaker in the current parliament and a member of Allawi’s alliance. Sectarian, Ethnic Initial signs are that the election is breaking along sectarian and ethnic bounds. Al-Maliki’s alliance is leading in nine predominately Shiite Muslim provinces in the south, Sumaria Television reported. Abbas al-Bayati, an official from al- Maliki’s coalition, told the Associated Press the group also did well in the mixed city of Baghdad. Allawi’s Iraqiya, which campaigned for a non-sectarian Iraq, was winning in four mainly Sunni Muslim provinces in the center and north, Sumaria and the Iraq News Agency reported. Al- Hashemi is a Sunni from the Iraqiya party. Kurdish parties were sweeping the Kurds’ autonomous zone in the far northeast. Other Kurdish, Shiite and Sunni parties were running behind, the Iraqi broadcaster and news agency said. Oil Revenue Top government jobs, including the head of the influential Oil Ministry, will be at stake. The ruling coalition that emerges from the election will have to resolve disputes over sharing oil revenue among regions and whether to include the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in the Kurdish autonomous region in the north, as well as cope with violence between Shiites and Sunnis. Iraq’s 115 billion-barrel oil reserves place it third behind Saudi Arabia and Iran. The country pumped about 2.4 million barrels a day last month, according to Bloomberg estimates. Once official results are announced, Talabani will have 15 days to convene a new parliament. The first session elects a speaker and two deputy speakers. Next, a new president is elected with a two-thirds majority. The new president has 15 days to task the leader of the largest bloc with forming a government. U.S. Troops Violence may escalate if the majority Shiites and the minority Sunni Muslims and Kurds aren’t all included in a coalition, said Ahmed Ali, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy . That would thwart U.S. ambitions to leave a stable Iraq as it withdraws its troops. U.S. troop strength will shrink from 96,000 to 50,000 by Sept. 1. All U.S. forces gone from Iraq by the end of 2011, under a schedule set last year by President Barack Obama . Parties will probably spend months haggling over the makeup of a coalition government, said Wael Abdel Latif of the National Iraqi Alliance, a major Shiite Muslim bloc. “The formation of the government may face big problems if the results are close and there is no clear winner,” Latif said in an interview yesterday in Baghdad. Preliminary results showed “a very close race,” he said. It could take more than six months to form a government, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said in a March 3 report. The parliamentary vote was the second since Saddam Hussein’s overthrow by U.S. forces in 2003. More than 6,200 candidates competed for seats in the legislature, the Council of Representatives. To contact the reporters on this story: Caroline Alexander in London at calexander1@bloomberg.net ; Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net .

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Iraqi Politicians Jockey for Position Before Snapshot of Election Results

Steve Parker: Our weekend radio shows – The line-ups

December 4, 2009

Join us LIVE Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern (NEW TIME!) and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com for our exclusive LIVE motoring and motorsports talk shows! Steve Parker’s The Car Nut Show NEW TIME! Join us LIVE every Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern The Los Angeles Auto Show opened to the public Friday, but huge news came from the corporate suites at GM. Another CEO is out, there’s a new head of sales and marketing and a new president of GM North America. Whew! And if we have time, we’ll play some more of our interview with Andrew Farah, chief engineer for the Chevrolet Volt. Let’s discuss! The call-in number is: 213-341-4353. Chevy Volt cockpit Steve Parker’s World Racing Roundup Sunday starting at 5pm NASCAR’s awards banquet was last night in Las Vegas … after almost three decades in NYC! We want to hear your take on the festivities. We have the complete list of teams entered in Formula 1 next year for you. Danica Patrick signed a new multi-year deal with Andretti Racing in IndyCar, and now she’s talking with Dale Earnhardt, Jr about joining his NASCAR team. Plus plenty from racing’s ‘silly season’. The call-in number is: 213-341-4353. Join in! F1 racer Podcasts of both shows are available one hour after the live shows conclude. That’s our NEW TIME this Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern time every week on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

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Philippines Declares Emergency in Mindanao as 46 People Abducted, Killed

November 24, 2009

By Cecilia Yap and Joel Guinto Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) — Philippine President Gloria Arroyo declared a state of emergency in parts of the southern island of Mindanao a day after gunmen abducted and killed at least 39 people in an attack on supporters of a local politician. The government ordered the police and military to “prevent and suppress all lawless violence” in Maguindanao province, where yesterday’s attack took place, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde told reporters in the capital, Manila. The decree also covers the province of Sultan Kudarat and Cotabato City. “No effort will be spared to bring justice to the victims and hold the perpetrators accountable,” Arroyo said at the start of a Cabinet meeting today. She deployed extra troops and ordered the national police chief to lead investigations into the killings. The death toll rose to 39 after 17 bodies were exhumed today, Chief Superintendent Josefino Cataluna, regional director of police in central Mindanao, said in a phone interview. Police continue to dig at a site in the town of Ampatuan, where the bodies were found, he said. Some 1,000 soldiers have been deployed to search for the suspects and secure Maguindanao’s “exit points,” Romeo Brawner , the armed forces spokesman, told reporters in Manila. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index rose 0.9 percent to 3,077.66 at the noon close in Manila. The peso closed 0.3 percent lower against the U.S. dollar at 47.045. Some 100 Gunmen The military said about 100 gunmen yesterday stopped a convoy of 40 people on their way to file papers in support of Buluan City Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, who planned to run for provincial governor in elections next year. The politician’s wife and sister as well as journalists were among those abducted, possibly by backers of a rival candidate, according to the military. Arroyo declared a state of emergency to prevent further violence in the region, Remonde said. The last time an area in Mindanao was placed under a state of emergency was March 31, when militants from the Islamist Abu Sayyaf group threatened to behead one of three Red Cross workers who were taken hostage. “When the president declares a state of emergency, the legal implication would be for the president to have the authority to call the armed forces to quell lawless violence,” Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in the same briefing. “It may also afford the president the legal basis for the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus,” he said, a reference to the ordering of a person to be brought before a court, with a requirement for authorities to justify the detention. Journalists Killed At least 12 journalists were among those killed, Reporters Without Borders said. “Never in the history of journalism have the news media suffered such a heavy loss of life in one day,” the Paris-based organization said in a statement. “We have often condemned the culture of impunity and violence in the Philippines, especially in Mindanao. This time, the frenzied violence of thugs working for corrupt politicians has resulted in an incomprehensible bloodbath.” National Police Chief General Jesus Versoza is now in Mindanao to oversee the investigation, the police spokesman, Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, said in a mobile phone text message. Arroyo ordered her adviser in Mindanao, Jesus Dureza , to set up a crisis committee, her office said. May Elections The Southeast Asian nation, which was wracked by violence during election campaigning in 2007, will choose a new president and thousands of national and local officials in May. The nation’s Commission on Elections will accept filings for candidacies until Dec. 1. Elections in the Philippines are often marred by bloodshed, with provincial politicians maintaining private militias. The province is a “hotspot” for political unrest, Brawner, the armed forces spokesman, told ANC television yesterday. The bodies were found in the mountainous area of Barangay Salman, Brawner said. Mangudadatu, who wasn’t traveling with the convoy, said yesterday he suspected female members of the group were raped before they were killed. In the 2007 mid-term elections, about 60 candidates were killed, according to a May 2007 Philippine Daily Inquirer report , citing data from the police. That number rose 46 percent from 41 in 2004. The southern Philippines is home to the al-Qaeda-linked militant group Abu Sayyaf and several Muslim rebel groups. To contact the reporters on this story: Cecilia Yap in Manila at cyap19@bloomberg.net ; Joel Guinto in Manila at jguinto1@bloomberg.net .

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