As Iraq hurtles with ever greater speed towards chaos US occupation forces continue to insist that the elections will take place as scheduled. Moreover, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi still claims that things are proceeding as they should and that free elections are around the corner.
No one can predict how things will develop until the end of January, the date set for the elections. What is clear, however, is that the more American and Iraqi officials insist on holding the elections on time, the worse violence and sectarian divisions become. Ayatollah Al-Sistani, the country's senior Shia cleric, wants his followers to take part in the elections. His zeal is such that he has denounced the boycotting of the elections as a cardinal sin. Sunni clerics disagree. They want their followers to boycott the elections, telling them that elections are sinful as long as they are held under occupation.
By casting the elections in a religious light the clerics are turning a political debate into a potentially violent and bloody drama. The elections were supposed to turn a new leaf in the country's life. But it is impossible to imagine they can really be held on time. UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has already voiced the opinion that, should the violence continue, the timetable for the elections will inevitably be derailed. Efforts by veteran politician Adnan Pachachi, among others, to get the interim government to delay voting has proved unsuccessful. Nothing good can come out of the current standoff between the proponents and opponents of the elections.
al Ahram
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