Word: boycott
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...Campaign Blues ZIMBABWE The main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), announced it had decided "with a heavy heart" to participate in March 31 parliamentary elections, although it maintained that restrictions on the media and security laws would prevent a fair campaign. The MDC vowed last year to boycott the poll, because, it said, it would not be able to compete on a level playing field with President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party. Lost in a Storm AFGHANISTAN Officials said all 104 people on board an Afghan airliner that crashed in bad weather near Kabul were feared...
...that the coalition of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was reeling in the UIA's lead, drawing support not only from a middle class secular constituency but also from Shiites wary of giving clerics political authority. Allawi may have been helped by what appears to have been a de facto boycott by supporters of the radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, on whose votes the UIA may have been counting. Indeed, if the 57 percent turnout figure is accurate, then the high Kurdish turnout and the fact that there was a substantial if small vote among Sunnis would suggest that a significant...
...tacit support. To counter its chief rival's use of TV, the UIA looks to rely on grassroots organization around the mosques, and on endorsement by the clergy - and given the fact of Iraq's Shiite majority, whose relative weight will be amplified by the anticipated widespread Sunni boycott, the UIA is expected to win a plurality of the vote. That may make one of their leading candidates - Abdul Aziz al-Hakim of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq; Ibrahim al-Jaffari of the Dawa Party; and independent Hussein al-Sharistani - top contender for Allawi...
...Boycotters Unarmed groups such as the influential Sunni Muslim Scholars Association are calling for a boycott of the polls, questioning their legitimacy and insisting that elections can't be held as long as U.S. troops remain in the country. They may share some of the political goals and concerns of the insurgency, but they insist that a non-violent call for a boycott is a legitimate democratic protest tactic...
...consideration be given to postponing the poll in order to improve the security environment in Sunni population centers. When their pleas for postponement were turned down, some like Yawer and Pachachi chose to participate, while others like the Islamic Party withdrew, although they didn't actively call for a boycott. The wild card in the pack is radical Shiite populist Moqtada al-Sadr, whose organization has mass support among urban Shiite youth in Baghdad. Sadr, who has twice tangled with U.S. forces in epic confrontations, has hedged his bets, with some of his known supporters joining the UIA list under...