Word: parliament
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...shown even less inclination to do so. Shi'ite militias have powerful backing from political parties that dominate the coalition government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The Mahdi Army is loyal to the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who controls at least 30 seats in the 275-member parliament. "We must not demonize the Mahdi Army or Muqtada," says a senior Coalition official. "He is a legitimate political player...
...other major Shi'ite militia, known as the Badr Organization, is affiliated to SCIRI, the country's single most powerful political party. The head of the Badr Organization, Hadi al-Amiri, also heads the Iraqi parliament's defense and security committee. He portrays the militias as nothing more than neighborhood-watch groups that provide security to citizens, and says American and Iraqi troops "should concentrate all their energies on eliminating [Sunni] insurgents and terrorists...
...control of everything, and this state of affairs is most secure when the country remains closed, with professionals kept at bay. If Iran is opened to the West, if Western-educated lawyers, businesspeople, and engineers expand their influence, in 10 years who will want a cleric as speaker of parliament or interior minister? These historical tensions are at the heart of Iran's problems of governance, and they are exacerbated today by the Bush Administration's objective of regime change. The perception that the U.S. is a threat to Iran removes any basis for agreement from the outset, for cooperation...
...Democratic Republic of Congo's first free election in four decades went off with few hitches and few reports of violence on July 30. Millions of voters visited 50,000 polling stations to decide between the 9,700 candidates running for parliament and the 32 candidates for the presidency. Despite early claims from minor presidential candidates that the vote was rigged, foreign election observers said the polling process was mostly free and fair...
...ministers in the new South Wales Labor government, Australia's longest-serving current administration: Iemma, Costa, Sartor, Della Bosca, Roozendaal, Orkopoulos, Hatzistergos and Tripodi. It's a wonderful achievement for them - and for Australia - that after only a few generations migrant families have seen their kids make it to Parliament. This immigrant upward mobility in politics is one of the things keen observers from New Zealand comment upon when they visit. (Kiwi politicians come in two flavors, not a good sign in a small country prone to exporting its talented people). As in the ranks of the public service...