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Iraq Allows Blacklisted Election Candidates to Run

05 February 2010 18:28 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Around 500 candidates barred from Iraq’s March 7 general election for alleged links to executed President Saddam Hussein were told Wednesday they can stand after all, paving the way towards a smooth vote, APA reports quoting AL Jazeera.

A senior election official told AFP the barred candidates, who include people accused of membership of Saddam’s outlawed Baath party, can take part in the vote, subject to a post-ballot appeals procedure. "They have the right to run in the election," Hamdiyah al-Husseini from the war-torn country’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) said. "The appeal court will look at their file after the election," and if they find them to have links to Saddam’s outlawed Baath party, "they will be eliminated," she said.

The blacklist was compiled last month by an integrity and accountability committee responsible for ensuring that individuals from the former regime do not take part. "I cannot do anything but accept the decision," its head Ali Al-Allami told AFP following Husseini’s comments.

Meanwhile, the UN secretary general’s envoy to Iraq, Ad Melkert, said on Wednesday that the country must strike a balance between the need to exclude Saddam’s former allies and ensuring a free and fair poll. They must "balance the critical need for justice and accountability of those that have in the past been part of oppressive regimes and the need for peace, reconciliation and inclusion in the democratic process," Melkert said.