Iraqi panel: More than 400 candidates banned from election; wants Baathists labeled terrorists
By APSunday, February 14, 2010
Only 1 in 5 blacklisted Iraqi candidates to run
BAGHDAD — A controversial Iraqi political panel has banned all but 93 of the hundreds of the candidates it blacklisted as being loyalists to Saddam Hussein from running in next month’s elections.
Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the Accountability and Justice Committee, on Sunday also called on parliament to label Saddam’s Baath party as a terrorist organization.
It was Chalabi’s first press conference since the Baathist ballot purge that threatens to disrupt Iraq’s March 7 elections.
Chalabi is the Shiite politician who aided U.S. efforts to drum up support for the war that deposed Saddam.
His vetting panel is widely believed to target Sunnis. Its own legality is under debate.
Officials said 535 candidates were initially blacklisted from the ballot of nearly 6,600.
