AP Interview: US envoy says if Iraq vote not widely accepted, may delay seating of government

US envoy say Iraqi vote must be accepted as fair

BAGHDAD — The U.S. ambassador warned Monday that voters must agree the March 7 elections are fair or it could delay the incoming government from taking office and potentially disrupt security in the fragile democracy.

Christopher Hill said during an Associated Press interview he is confident a seething debate over the barring of about 450 candidates — accused by the government of loyalty to Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party — will be resolved well before the parliamentary election.

He predicted the Shiite-dominated government will clearly and publicly show why those candidates, many of them Sunni, were blacklisted.

“We clearly need an election process whose outcome the Iraqi people accept,” Hill said. “We don’t want a situation where some people, or some groups of people, do not accept the outcome. Because then you have a substantial percentage of people who do not accept the outcome that can make the security situation problematic.”

Following Iraq’s last parliamentary election in 2005, bickering between and within political parties and religious groups delayed the new government from being seated for months. Part of that was because of U.S. insistence that, despite boycotting the elections, Sunni lawmakers be given some power to balance out majority Shiite leaders.

Hill predicted the government that will be elected next month similarly will “take a lot of time” to get up and running — mostly to ensure balance and inclusion among competing political forces.

“Despite the pushing and shoving that goes on here in the political process, this is not a winner-take-all system by any means,” Hill said. “There’s a notion that everyone should get a little piece of the pie.

“What will help determine whether these elections are successful or not is not the behavior of the winners, but rather how the losers accept the elections,” Hill said. “That’s always been the challenge (but) that’s especially true now.”

Still Hill sought to downplay obstacles to a smooth vote.

He said he is optimistic that the election ultimately will be seen as fair and inclusive, and that having a transparent process for vetting candidates of Baathist links was key to that.

“There should be a situation where people don’t scratch their heads at why certain people have been included on the list,” Hill said.