Word: boycotts
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Building contractor Omar Nasreddin, 47, says he intends to sit out the vote. Sunni clerics have called for a boycott, while extremists have threatened violence against those who take part. Nasreddin's reluctance stems from a suspicion that the U.S. will rig the vote. "Whoever is elected will immediately sign over Iraqi sovereignty to the U.S.," Nasreddin says, "and keep American troops in Iraq forever." He is so concerned about his fate under a new government that he asks not to be identified by his real name...
...most heartening development in the election was the high Palestinian voter turnout. This hints that the popularity of organizations such as Hamas, which called on its supporters to boycott the presidential elections, is waning. The government of Israel should do its best to encourage this moderate movement in the Palestinian territories by limiting friction between its military forces and the Palestinian population wherever possible. For his part, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s withdrawal plan from Gaza and the subsequent political realignment of his government indicate a shift in recent months. Israel’s shift away from radicalism...
...Sunni population, for whom the outcome will then be delegitimized and on whose support the insurgency will be able to count for years to come. A substantial minority of the Sunni population, up to 30 percent, is believed to sympathize with the insurgency and will therefore observe a boycott call. But other, more moderate Sunni parties have withdrawn from the election on the grounds that it can't be held under present security conditions. The registering of voters and other electoral preparations in areas with substantial Sunni populations is way behind schedule, with many electoral officials having been murdered...
...counting on al-Yawer to get out the Sunni vote. While most of the prominent Sunni parties are threatening to boycott, al-Yawer told reporters last week that he opposed a delay in the vote. In an interview with TIME in his plush home in Baghdad, al-Yawer reiterated his belief that elections are crucial to subduing the insurgency. "We're anxious to have the election on time," he says. "We're not comfortable with the label 'appointed government,' and we want to have the legitimacy that an election will bring...
...attack on Fallujah," he told TIME, "violence has escalated everywhere, even in Mosul, where things were quite calm before." His criticisms have won him admirers in the Sunni triangle, where government figures are regarded with scorn. Even the radical Association of Muslim Scholars, which is calling for a boycott of the election, offers guarded praise. Al-Yawer, says association spokesman Abdul- Salam al-Qubaisi, "is saying the right things, but we have to see if he takes the right actions...