Iraqi Shiite Coalition Tries to Dispel Fears of Iran-Style Rule

Humam Hamoudi, a Shiite coalition leader, insists the parties running for parliament in the Jan. 30 vote do not answer to Iran's government. (Doug Struck -- The Washington Post)

BAGHDAD, Jan. 15 -- The coalition of Shiite Muslim parties favored to win the biggest bloc in Iraq's Jan. 30 parliamentary election tried Saturday to play down fears that it would bring an Iranian-style government to the country. The coalition insisted it was a nationalist movement that would include all groups.

"This is not a competition between Sunnis and Shiites. There is no intention of forming an Islamic or religious state in Iraq, or a Shiite state or an Iranian-style government," Mowaffak Rubaie, one of the coalition leaders, said at a news conference held to assuage worries among Iraq's Sunni minority about what would happen if the long-oppressed Shiites came to power.

The leaders spoke as Iraq's election commission announced procedures to press ahead with the national ballot, despite calls from some Sunni leaders to delay it because of persistent violence in the country, particularly in Sunni dominated areas.

In an effort to prevent attacks, private cars will not be allowed on the roads for three days before the election, commission officials said. They also said any citizens in two turbulent areas who felt too intimidated to register to vote could sign up and vote on election day. They promised that preliminary results would be available within a day after the voting.

"These elections will be historical," said Abdul Hussein Hindawi, the head of the election commission. "The countdown has started."

But the countdown period has been repeatedly marred by violence. On Saturday, a U.S. Marine was killed in Babil province, south of Baghdad; mortar shells exploded near the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad; a U.S. convoy was hit by a roadside bomb west of the capital; a U.S. helicopter was forced down by gunfire in Mosul; and a local government building in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, was hit by shells, according to local reports and witnesses.

A militant Islamic group, the Army of Ansar al-Sunna, asserted responsibility for the kidnapping of 15 Iraqi National Guardsmen from a bus Friday near the western city of Hit. There was no word on their fate.

"Your mujaheddin brothers set up an ambush . . . and the cowards could only surrender," the group said on its Web site, referring to the insurgents as holy warriors. "With the help of God, 15 of the pagan guards were captured along with their equipment."

Militant opponents of the election have escalated attacks and warned Iraqis not to go to the polls. Iraqi election officials have said the police, army commandos and the National Guard would attempt to provide a ring of security around all polling places, with the U.S.-led multinational force ready as a backup.

U.S. Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, whose command includes the American forces in the troubled northern city of Mosul, vowed Saturday to restore enough order there for voting to take place. According to reports from Mosul, militias controlling the city have killed or threatened candidates and campaign workers, and election preparations have been stopped.

"The elections will take place," Ham said at a news conference in Baghdad. "It's not going to be easy, but it will be done. There is hope for the people of northern Iraq."

A small percentage of the Sunnis in northern and central Iraq, who represent about 20 percent of the population, are expected to vote because of the threats. A small Sunni turnout will likely boost the power of the Shiite political candidates running for the 275-seat National Assembly.

The main Shiite parties have formed an umbrella coalition headed by Abdul Aziz Hakim, a cleric with close ties to the Shiite government in Iran. Those ties prompted many Sunni voters to call his list of candidates the "Iran list," and there was widespread speculation about Iranian influence on the next government.

The possibility of such influence has long worried U.S. officials.