Iraqis asked to unite after ballot box fire
baghdad — Cleric Moqtada Al Sadr called for Iraqis to show unity rather than squabble over a possible rerun of the election his bloc won last month, in remarks that seemed aimed at defusing political tension after a storage site holding ballot boxes caught fire.
Parliament has mandated a manual recount of the election in which a number of political parties alleged fraud. A storage site holding half of the ballot boxes from the capital caught fire on Sunday in what Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi called a “plot to harm the nation and its democracy”.
The authorities say the ballot boxes were saved and the fire will not affect the recount. Nevertheless it has added to fears that disputes over the vote result could turn violent.
Sadr, a Shia cleric who once led violent campaigns against a US occupation, has emerged as nationalist opponent of powerful Shia religious parties allied to Iran. He scored a surprise victory in the election, with his followers emerging as the largest political bloc in a highly fractured parliament.
“Stop fighting for seats, posts, gains, influence, power, and rulership,” he wrote in an article published by his office.
“Is it not time to stand as one for building and reconstruction instead of burning ballot boxes or repeating elections just for one seat or two?” Sadr wrote.
The election, the first since the defeat of the terrorist group Daesh that seized a third of Iraq in 2014, raised hopes that Iraqis could put aside long-standing communal and sectarian divisions to rebuild. Sadr’s followers campaigned in an unlikely alliance with the Communists and other secular groups. —