One of Iraq's biggest political parties said on Wednesday it wants to revive a once powerful alliance with the prime minister's party and other Shia groups, after it lost seats to them in January local polls. A perceived rift between the religious (ISCI), which saw its power wane in January local polls, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had led to fears of instability ahead of national polls expected by early next year.
On Wednesday, ISCI leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim said he wanted to "activate" the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which swept ISCI and other Shia groups to power in 2005, but has since seen some members, including Maliki, shift away. "The solidarity of the (UIA) ... has saved Iraq from many risky crises ... For the continuation of this march... I authorise Sheikh Humam Hamoudi to represent me in the process of the activation of the alliance," Hakim said in a statement, referring to a top ISCI official.
Hakim suffers from cancer, which could explain his delegation of the task of rebuilding the UIA. "I appeal to all brothers, and at the top of them the brother prime minister, for serious co-operation with Sheikh Hamoudi to rebuild the Alliance and to draw its course in the coming election," he added.
Political reconciliation between Iraq's feuding factions is seen as crucial to stability ahead of a planned US troop withdrawal by August 2010 and expected withdrawal of all forces by the end of 2011, a deadline agreed by Baghdad and Washington. Maliki's moves ahead of the December parliamentary elections will be closely watched - he has already stated his wish to shift Iraqi politics away from sectarianism. Iraq is majority Shia, but has large Sunni Arab, Kurdish and other minorities.
"The coming parliamentary elections will be held on the basis of nationalist alliances ... and the provincial elections were witness to the end of sectarian alliances," Maliki said earlier this month. ISCI had once dominated almost all of the powerful provincial councils of Iraq's Shia south, but lost ground in January polls after a campaign that focused on religion, and because of perceived incompetence in the areas it controlled. Many voters said they wanted better security and services.
Though also religious and Shia, the election campaigns of Maliki's allies focused on security gains made under Maliki's watch, and appealed to more nationalist sentiment. ISCI, however, is seen as being close to Iran, where it was formed in exile in the 1980s, and has pushed for a separate Shia region in Iraq's oil-producing south. Maliki's other possible parliamentary election allies are less likely to join him if he draws ISCI closer.
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