Iraqi officials: Court should settle banned candidate controversy before campaign begins

Iraqi court pushed to rule on banned candidates

BAGHDAD — Iraqi leaders on Saturday pushed the country’s highest court to issue a quick ruling on hundreds of candidates who have been banned from running in March elections, warning that parliament will settle the controversy if the judges don’t.

With lawmakers headed back to Baghdad for an emergency parliamentary session, an adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the court has until Sunday afternoon to decide how to handle the dispute that risks alienating Sunni voters.

“If the appeals court says soon that they will settle the matter, then there is no need for the parliament session,” al-Maliki adviser Yasin Majeed told The Associated Press.

At issue is about 450 candidates accused of being loyalists to Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime. They were banned from running on the March 7 ballot by a Shiite-led vetting panel that is widely seen as targeting Sunnis, even though Shiites also are on the blacklist.

The Baathist Party has been outlawed in Iraq.

Al-Maliki met Saturday with parliament Speaker Ayad al-Sammaraie, Chief Justice Madhat Al-Mahmood and other government officials to discuss the controversy. Majeed said all agreed that the dispute must be settled before the campaign season officially begins on Feb. 12.

One option that Majeed said appeared to have broad support would have the court verify the evidence against all the candidates who have been blacklisted before the campaign opens next Friday. Any appeals or clarifications by the candidates also would be reviewed by the judicial panel.

Some Sunni leaders have threatened to boycott the election if the ballot purge stands. That, in turn, risks throwing the election in chaos and its results in doubt.

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill has called on Baghdad to find a fair solution to make sure the new government is widely accepted as credible so it can be seated soon after the elections.

The vote, delayed from January, will be the last major election in which the U.S. military is helping with security. At stake are some of the country’s most ambitious goals, including political and sectarian reconciliation and finalizing a law governing the oil industry, on which Iraq’s economy is almost solely dependent.