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BAGHDAD, Oct 29: A car bomb killed at least 25 people in a small town northeast of Baghdad on Saturday, casting a shadow over political jockeying in the capital where parties have been negotiating alliances for the Dec 15 polls.
The blast came the day after a deadline for parties to register for elections that Washington is hoping will set Iraq firmly on the path to peace and democracy.
Police and the interior ministry said at least 25 people were killed and 40 wounded in the blast in Howaider, a Shia-dominated town north of Baquba, which is 65kms northeast of Baghdad.
Police sources said the bomb was in a pick-up truck which exploded on the small town’s main street where the mosque, the market and a coffee shop are located. The blast hit around the time for iftar.
REGISTRATION: Shia, Sunni and Kurdish blocs were among more than 200 parties and coalitions that completed registration for the election, which Washington hopes will cement Iraqi democracy and open the way for an eventual withdrawal of US troops.
Election officials said 21 coalitions and 230 political parties and entities registered for the December election by Friday’s deadline, including a significant number of Sunni groups which boycotted the last election in January.
Five groups are likely to dominate the race: the Shia-based Islamist Alliance, the Kurdish bloc, at least two blocs of Sunni parties and a secular coalition unveiled on Saturday by former prime minister Iyad Allawi.
COMPLICATED BALLOT: Under a new system of proportional representation, voters in Iraq’s 18 provinces will see 18 different ballot papers.
“We are giving the voter a chance to elect people they know so that people will get more involved in the candidate’s programme for his province,” Hussein Hindawi, the head of Iraq’s election commission, said.
Mr Allawi, a secular Shia, unveiled a slate on Saturday that included prominent Sunnis such as Vice-President Ghazi al Yawar, parliamentary speaker Hajem al Hassani and Adnan Pachachi.—Reuters
