Sunni Neighborhood Mobilizes for Election

"BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Hameed al-Azami, a volunteer for Iraq's election commission, is urging people to turn out for Thursday's parliament vote. During last January's parliament election, he pushed for a boycott.

Al-Azami's change of heart is part of a major shift within the Sunni Arab community toward the political process - a move U.S. officials hope will undermine support for the insurgency.

"The date Dec. 15 is a landmark event," Sunni cleric Ali al-Zand told worshippers Friday at Baghdad's Umm al-Qura mosque in the last major prayer service before the ballot. "It is a decisive battle that will determine our future. If you give your vote to the wrong people, then the (U.S.) occupation will continue and the country would be lost.""
MyWay