Afghan elections shaping up; Iraqi forces set for transition

Candidates disqualified from Afghan elections

Afghan elections officials disqualified three presidential candidates and 54 provincial council candidates from running in the August contest.

The Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission said the names of the 57 candidates barred from competing would not appear on the final elections slate scheduled for publication Friday, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reports.

"Pursuant to the electoral law, the ECC formally notified the Independent Election Commission earlier today of those individuals who are not been included in the final list of candidates to be published on (Friday)," said ECC Chairman Grant Kippen.

The ECC examined more than 300 challenges filed against presidential and provincial candidates, including incumbent President Hamid Karzai, from May 16 to May 23 on concerns over dual citizenship, ties to illegal militias and alleged criminal activity.

Afghans head to the polls Aug. 20 for their second-ever election. Karzai, who came to power in the wake of the overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001, has emerged as the strongest candidate in the field.

His strongest challenge comes from former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani.

Two women are among the more than 40 contenders vying for the presidential seat.

Afghans flood election hotline

Afghan citizens are flooding a national election hotline set up to vet concerns and questions from across the country ahead of August voting.

The Afghan Independent Election Commission set up a national toll-free number, 190, in September. Upgrades to a calling center concluded in April and elections officials say they are receiving around 25,000 calls per week, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reports.

IEC officials say call volume increased in May following the end of the provincial council and presidential nomination process.

"We expect the number to go up further after the final list of candidates is announced (Friday)," said Shafi Jalali, head of the public outreach department at IEC.

Operators at the calling center say most questions pertain to the election date, Aug. 20, security issues and voter registration concerns.

Jalali said the call center provides another resource for potential voters to examine the candidates outside of their campaign rhetoric.

"The media campaign is a one-way communication with the public, while the call center is a two-way communication and people can get all their questions answered through this center," he said.

Call center operators said they have received calls requesting the phone numbers of individual candidates as well as from members of the Taliban.

"When such people call, we cut the line thinking that it's just waste of time," said Jalali of the Taliban calls.

Bishkek considers U.S. military base

The government of Kyrgyzstan stated it was open to negotiate a possible extension to a lease on a U.S. air base used to ferry military equipment to Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai had petitioned Bishkek to allow American forces to extend their lease at the Manas Air Base, which is used as a staging point to ferry military and other supplies into Afghanistan.

Bishkek had given the Americans 180 days in February to remove their 1,200 troops and military equipment from the air base, but opened the door to considering an extension following the Karzai effort, the Pakistani Daily Times reports.

"Kyrgyzstan is prepared to discuss the question of the use of its territory for assisting anti-terrorism coalition forces in Afghanistan with all interested sides," Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Kadyrbek Sarbayev

Sarbayev told the state news agency Kabar.

The closure of the base would be a major blow to U.S. plans to increase their military presence in Afghanistan as part of a push to stabilize the region.

Washington had secured pledges from other Central Asian partners for the shipment of non-military cargo to Afghanistan. Sarbayev said the terms for the Americans would be discussed at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit scheduled to begin Monday in Russia.

"What shape this will take, in what format and in which framework -- about this we will need to hold negotiations," he said.

Iraqi forces set for transition

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said his forces were capable of maintaining security in the country as U.S. forces prepare for a June 30 draw down date.

U.S. combat forces pull out of Iraqi cities June 30 under the terms outlined in a bilateral Status of Forces Agreement with Baghdad.

Talabani told an Arabic-language television station that Iraq forces were capable of providing security in the country, adding American forces would remain on standby, the Voices of Iraq news agency reports.

"Our forces are able to maintain security and there is no need for the U.S. forces, but we can recall them in some cases," the Iraqi president said.

U.S. military commanders, for their part, said they are working with the Iraqi Interior Ministry to handle the transition, hoping to achieve "police primacy."

"Under police primacy, the Iraqi police forces will have primary responsibility for internal security, under civilian control, in accordance with the constitution and consistent with the rule of law," said Army Maj. Gen. James Milano, a U.S. commander in charge of transition for Iraqi interior affairs.

The political challenges to the security transition may be as complicated as the logistical challenges as allegations surfaced recently that officials in the Iraqi Interior Ministry had employed death squads and supplied official documents to illegal militias.

Meanwhile, in a sign of the growing violence ahead of the June 30 deadline, a suicide bomber struck a market in the Shiite province of Dhi Qar, killing at least 28 in the morning blast.

Shiite alliance gains force

Shiite cleric Abdul Aziz al-Hakim called for the resurgence of the United Iraqi Alliance slate as political planning begins ahead of 2010 national elections.

Shiite factions consolidated under the broad UIA coalition in 2004, taking control of the government in the 2005 elections. Internal divisions and disputes between the Dawa Party of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and members of Hakim's Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council weakened the coalition since.

Meanwhile, the growing influence and oscillating loyalty of the Sadrist Movement of anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr and the eristic Fadhila Party have diminished the clout of the UIA.

Abbas al-Bayyati, a lawmaker with the Islamic Union for Iraqi Turkmens, a UIA member, told the Iraqi analytical Web site Niqash that the coalition will emerge with "a new national discourse, opposed to sectarian or ethnic rhetoric, and it will be open to other forces who adopt a similar rhetoric and national positions."

He, and other members of the Shiite coalition, said the revamped UIA would welcome Sunni lawmakers to the fold based on the principles of national solidarity.

The fate of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, meanwhile, may hinge on the declining health of Hakim, who is suffering from lung cancer. Ammar al-Hakim, his son, is acting as the head of the council.

SIIC parties failed to make substantial gains in the January provincial elections, losing out to the State of Law slate backed by Maliki. But lawmakers hope the revamped UIA will emerge as a political force in time for national elections in January.

January vote for SOFA

The Iraqi government plans to hold a referendum on a bilateral security pact with the United States along with national elections in January, officials say.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the government had allocated nearly $1 billion to the Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq to conduct a referendum on the agreement along with national elections in order to streamline the cost of the vote, the Iraqi satellite channel al-Sumaria reports.

American combat troops are required to pull out of Iraqi cities by June 30 and out of Iraq completely by December 2011 under the terms of the bilateral Status of Forces Agreement signed in 2008.

Sunni lawmakers had pushed for the national referendum during negotiations for bilateral security pact. The original vote was set for July 30 and lawmakers say that date is unlikely to change as the Baghdad government would have to enact new laws before then. With the Iraqi Parliament notoriously slow to move, any predictions on the vote date are uncertain.

Meanwhile, with Iraqi scheduled for national elections in January, The New York Times reports any statements on the presence of American troops in Iraq are likely to be part of electioneering.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, is unlikely to voice public support for the SOFA at the risk of bolstering his opponents, while U.S. diplomats hope the government will scrap the vote all together.

The U.S. military would have to leave Iraqi within a year of the vote if the security agreement is turned down in the polls.

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(dgraeber@upi.com)