Mideast holds breath over outcome of Iraqi vote
AMMAN (AFP) - Fear and hope gripped Sunni Arab governments as they awaited the outcome of Iraq's first free election in 50 years, as Shiite Iran warned that the United States might not accept the result.
From Cairo to Jerusalem to Tehran, commentators expected Iraq's Shiite majority, long oppressed under the deposed Sunni regime of Saddam Hussein, to emerge victorious from the polls, as analysts urged unity and warned against civil war.
A commentary headlined "An eye filled with fear, the other with hope" in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat set the mood.
It summed up mixed Arab feelings over the election -- Iraq's first democratic vote in 50 years -- as "a beginning... and no beginning is ever perfect".
"Will it be the start of democracy or the beginning of civil war and chaos," wondered Cairo's independent Nahdat Misr daily.
Iraq's vote is a rarity in the strictly controlled world of Middle Eastern politics, of often only one candidate or results that are a foregone conclusion.
Officials in Iran, which has denied accusations it tried to manipulate the polls, hailed the elections as a "great step" towards independence, but repeated a warning from its supreme leader that Washington may not accept the result.
Top MP Alaeddin Boroujerdi said "the organisation of the elections in Iraq constitute a great step for Iraqis towards an independent and popular regime".
But influential former president Akbar Hasemi Rafsanjani warned that Washington may not accept Iraq becoming a country that is "free and independent and that does not stand next to America and Israel."
The United States "could either rig the results of the elections," or otherwise stage a coup d'etat -- a warning expressed earlier this month by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In Jordan, where King Abdullah II has warned against the risks of partition in Iraq, the government insisted the election was the cure for salvation.
"We hope that holding elections in these very difficult conditions will help achieve stability in Iraq, reflect the will of all the Iraqi people and help Iraq recover its sovereignty," government spokeswoman Asma Khodr said.
Admitting that attacks, which killed at least 36 people, were a "cause for concern," Khodr saw "no alternative to forging ahead with efforts aimed at enabling the Iraqi people to take the political reins of their country."
Arab newspapers may have hoped for the best, but editorials and cartoons highlighted Iraq's climate of "war" and continued US-led foreign troop presence.
The Dubai daily Al-Khaleej feared "the polls will lead to an internal struggle and the breaking up of Iraqi unity in a bid to achieve the goal of the occupation which is aimed at remaining in the country".
Saudi Arabia's Al-Riyad daily said Iraq's 14 million voters headed to the polls deafened by "the sound of bombs and explosions".
The English-language Arab News was more optimistic. "The very fact that the election is being held... is a defeat for terrorists and a much needed victory for moderation."
Predicting an "inevitable" victory for Iraq's Shiite community, Arab News urged Shiite legislators to "inflict an even more significant defeat on the men of violence".
Israel's Haaretz and Jerusalem Post dailies also predicted a strong Shiite win.
"It is the first time that the Shia majority will gain control of the country and the first time in which the parliament in an Arab country -- with the exception of Lebanon -- will have real authority," Haaretz said.
"Iraq's Shiites will likely remember Sunday as the day they took power using the most powerful weapon at their disposal: the womb," said the right-wing Jerusalem Post.
In Egypt's opposition Al-Wafd newspaper, commentator Sanaa Essaid said the election would "consolidate (US) occupation" in Iraq, while Al-Sharq Al-Awsat urged voters to "get rid of the two occupations: the Americans and the insurgents."
Playing up the fear factor, Jordan's independent Al-Ghad daily published a cartoon showing an Iraqi voter stepping over rubble to cast his ballot.
The man holds a piece of white paper that says "my vote" and a yellow one that reads "my will". |
