US Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday Iraq's March 7 election must be fair, credible and transparent but insisted that Washington would not interfere in a simmering row over barred candidates. Biden landed in Baghdad late on Friday for 24 hours of discussions aimed at brokering a compromise over a controversial blacklist that has seen both Sunni Arabs and Shias excluded just six weeks from the poll.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told AFP that Biden's early talks had focused on general diplomatic relations between the two countries and security matters but the elections had also been discussed. "He made the point that they want to see a transparent, fair election that has credibility, both for the Iraqi people and foreign people, but how you do it is your business," said Zebari, who attended some of the meetings.
Zebari, however, stressed Biden fully accepted that the dispute was for Iraqi leaders to resolve. "Everyone is aware that the time (until the elections) is closing and this issue has to be resolved through legal means," Zebari said, referring to an appeals process through which barred candidates can have the decision reversed.
The 511-strong blacklist is filled with candidates accused of being members of executed dictator Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party, feared Fedayeen (Men of Sacrifice) militia or Mukhabarat intelligence agency. The dispute has stoked tension between the Shia majority now leading the government and the Sunni Arab former elite and has also exposed the failings of a much vaunted but apparently stumbling national reconciliation process.
Biden met Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, parliament speaker Iyad al-Samarrai and the UN secretary general's special representative for Iraq, Ad Melkert. He was also scheduled to meet President Jalal Talabani as well as senior government ministers and a cross-section of other political leaders. The election row sparked a flurry of contacts by Biden in recent days aimed at brokering a compromise, notably through President Talabani, who is a Kurd. Biden "proposed that the disqualifications be deferred until after the election and that those candidates who have been barred condemn and disavow the Baath party and undertake to act through democratic means," Talabani said before Biden landed in Baghdad.s.
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