Iraqi politicians running against sectarian incompetence
Mohamed al-Rubeiy, the image of a prosperous businessman in a dark blue suit and gold watch, beams from thousands of posters plastered on walls advertising his run for a seat in Iraq's provincial elections.I wonder if he has his face on the watch face?The liberal, middle-aged businessman is running a campaign that he says was inspired by Barack Obama – blending American-style tactics with traditional Iraqi politics – and is emblematic of what appears to be a groundswell against rule by religious parties.
"There has been a backlash," says Adnan Pachachi, a former Iraqi foreign minister and now a member of parliament. Mr. Rubeiy is affiliated with his party. "There has been so much corruption because the religious parties got people who were not qualified to run the ministries.... It's really been a bitter disappointment in some places because they say we voted for them and they did nothing."
An Iraqi government-funded opinion poll recently found that nearly one-third of voters surveyed listed improving local services as their biggest priority. Almost half preferred secular over religious candidates.
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Under Iraq's revamped electoral system voters will be able to vote for individuals as well as lists. Rubeiy is counting on what appears to be a nostalgic appeal for Mr. Allawi – a secular strongman who did poorly in the last national elections when religious parties swept the slate – as well as his own personal standing.
On Wednesday afternoon, Rubeiy's campaign "operations room" is filled with soccer players – half from his home neighborhood of Karrada and half from Sadr City – the Shiite stronghold. The movement loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is not formally fielding candidates in the elections, leaving hundreds of thousands of votes up for grabs.
"I voted last time for the Shiite list but they don't care about younger people," says Tariq Muwat, one of Rubeiy's volunteers from Sadr City. "They promised us a lot but we didn't get anything," says Mr. Murat, 35 and unemployed. He is one of hundreds of young men and women – Shiites, Sunnis, and Christians – working on Rubeiy's campaign.
Rubeiy, the son of a prominent sheikh and one of 11 brothers and three sisters from his father's four wives, turned to his brothers to help finance his campaign. So far, he says, he's spent 100 million Iraqi dinars (about $80,000). At a tribal lunch Wednesday in Zafaraniya, his aides hand out gold-plated watches and glossy brochures listing his achievements to the assembled guests.
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The good news is that the Iraqis appear to be interested in secular competence for their new leaders. I think that is really a return to the values the US expected before the invasion. I suspect that the religious candidates did so well in the first elections because Iraqis were not sure whom to trust after the fall of the Baathist.
This election looks like it will be closer to the ideal President Bush envisioned for democracy in Iraq.
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