I Had Worried About This...

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The early returns are in from Iraq. The leading party currently is is the party endorsed by al-Sistani. You can read the article here . I was concerned about this in that there will be a large religious influence by al-Sistani, which I think can't be a good thing.

So far, 3.3 million votes have been counted (out of approximately 8 million cast), and the party backed by al-Sistani has received about 2/3 of the votes - which is simply huge. That's 2.2 million votes. The second leading vote getter is Allawi's party - the current PM of Iraq with only 600,000 votes. That means there are no other parties with even 500,000 votes at this point, which also means the Sunni areas are going to be very poorly represented. I think the vote was a wonderful thing, but I do not think the results bode well at all.

 

hmm, why can't al-Sistani's influence be a good thing?

He's way more secular than the ayatollas from Teheran, actually from a school that emphacises separation of church and state - to keep the church pure from political meddlings - the exact opposite from Khomeini's approach.

What he will sure do is to provide moral and political guidance.

What Iraq needs now is stability, and religious unity in the largest population group in Iraq can produce the unity needed to enforce stability. The shias provide two thirds of Iraq's population - that is more manpower than the US armed forces are ever able to project to Iraq.

 

Wow.

I agree with Ragusa.

*checks pulse*

A moderate, mildly pro-American (or minimally anti-American) like al-Sistani may be just what is needed to help pacify insurgents and unify Iraq. He has also been the most vocal of Democratic reforms of all the clerics and has demonstrated a willingness to work with the West toward those ends. He has condemned terror, encouraged the vote and called for cooperation with the coalition forces. Might be the best man for the job.

If anything, this development validates the election as the choice of the Iraqi people. If Allawi had won there would have been cries of "America rigged the election just to keep Bush's lap dog in power!"

Of course, they would have all originated from here at SP.

 

If the Sunni's find themselves shut out of power by the Shia and Kurds, it'll be their own fault. Like I like to tell people where I live; if you don't vote then you have no right to complain about who is elected.