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United states and united nations unite on iraq { December 30 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005%5C12%5C30%5Cstory_30-12-2005_pg4_7http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005%5C12%5C30%5Cstory_30-12-2005_pg4_7
Friday, December 30, 2005
US and UN reject calls for Iraq vote re-run
* Sunni groups say they will not discuss forming government until UN reviews election results
BAGHDAD: The United Nations and the United States rebuffed calls by Sunnis and secular Shias to re-run Iraq’s parliamentary elections as protests against the vote continued on Thursday.
And a previously unknown group claimed the kidnapping of French engineer Bernard Planche, threatening on Wednesday to kill him if France did not “end its illegitimate presence in Iraq” in a video shown on Al-Arabiya television.
A spokesman for the White House followed up the UN’s unequivocal backing for the December 15 election with his own statement of support, with both institutions promoting the formation of a coalition government
“I don’t think most are suggesting that there needs to be a re-run because it is the belief that the elections were fair. And that is our view as well,” said White House spokesman Trent Duffy.
Sunni Arab groups said on Thursday they would not discuss forming a new Iraqi government until the United Nations reviews results of this month’s election, a refusal likely to increase political tension. Leaders from the main Sunni electoral bloc, the Iraqi Accordance Front, are expected to meet Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and other officials in Kurdistan in a coming days.
Iraq’s most powerful Shia Islamist politician, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, met Kurdish leaders in the north on Tuesday, opening a series of talks intended to ease friction over election results and begin building a governing coalition.
But Sunni Arabs groups said that they would not get involved in any talks on government before the results are fully cleared.
“They might go on Friday but only to look for solutions for the political crisis. They will not talk about the government,” Accordance Front spokesman Dhafer al-Ani said. Disappointed Sunni and secular parties have demanded a rerun of the Dec. 15 election and threatened to boycott parliament, while tens of thousands of their supporters have taken to the streets to protest the results. Partial results have showed the ruling Shia Islamist Alliance has done better than expected, particularly in Baghdad, where it took 59 percent of the vote compared with just 19 percent for its nearest Sunni rivals and 14 percent for former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s broad secular coalition.
“There will be no negotiations about forming the new government,” Hussein al-Falluji, a candidate on the Accordance list said, referring to the upcoming meetings in Kurdistan. “We will not have any dialogue about it, not with the Kurds and not with the Shias. Results should be reviewed and announced first,” he said. In a demonstration in the northern oil hub of Kirkuk, hundreds of Sunni Arabs and Turkmen protested election results that gave a dominant position to the Kurdish Alliance in this flashpoint city.
“We demand the re-running of elections,” said one of the banners at the demonstration, while others condemned alleged electoral fraud, indirectly accusing Shias and Kurds.
The past two days have seen thousands demonstrate in Baghdad as well as predominantly Sunni Arab cities such as Samarra and Tikrit, calling for a re-run of the election or the formation of a national unity government. agencies
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