.Iyad Allawi unveils alliance to fight election
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iraq's former pro-Western prime minister Iyad Allawi on Saturday unveiled a broad secular alliance of candidates to contest the country's general election on March 7.
Allawi, a Shiite politician who in exile mounted an opposition movement against Saddam Hussein, was provisionally appointed by Washington as Iraq's first premier after the dictator's ouster in the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. He held the post for just under a year.
His public profile and influence has since slipped -- he currently has no ministers in the war-torn nation's government -- but he is a sworn foe of current Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom he aims to unseat.
"We are a national political entity, committed to serving all Iraqis and we call on them to join us," Rafa al-Essawi, the country's Sunni deputy prime minister, told hundreds of people at a glitzy Baghdad ceremony.
Allawi did not speak at the gathering where candidates for his Al-Iraqiya Alliance were unveiled but he was flanked by Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi who fired an opening verbal salvo at Maliki.
"He (Maliki) has failed to create a state of citizens to replace a state of (religious) communities," Hashemi told candidates and onlookers at the launch ceremony held at Al-Rasheed Hotel.
The prominent Sunni lawmaker Saleh al-Mutlak, who has been banned from competing in the March poll for alleged links to Saddam's former regime, is also a member of Allawi's alliance and was present at the ceremony.
Al Arabiya
Allawi, a Shiite politician who in exile mounted an opposition movement against Saddam Hussein, was provisionally appointed by Washington as Iraq's first premier after the dictator's ouster in the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. He held the post for just under a year.
His public profile and influence has since slipped -- he currently has no ministers in the war-torn nation's government -- but he is a sworn foe of current Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom he aims to unseat.
"We are a national political entity, committed to serving all Iraqis and we call on them to join us," Rafa al-Essawi, the country's Sunni deputy prime minister, told hundreds of people at a glitzy Baghdad ceremony.
Allawi did not speak at the gathering where candidates for his Al-Iraqiya Alliance were unveiled but he was flanked by Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi who fired an opening verbal salvo at Maliki.
"He (Maliki) has failed to create a state of citizens to replace a state of (religious) communities," Hashemi told candidates and onlookers at the launch ceremony held at Al-Rasheed Hotel.
The prominent Sunni lawmaker Saleh al-Mutlak, who has been banned from competing in the March poll for alleged links to Saddam's former regime, is also a member of Allawi's alliance and was present at the ceremony.
Al Arabiya
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