« A new milblog: "I Should Have Stayed Home" | Main | GREAT Places to Follow Iraq Election News! »

January 29, 2005

MEMRI: Part 4 of the Iraq Election Series

The Middle East Media Research Institute has just published its latest election analysis, Iraqi Elections (IV): Platforms and Campaign Strategies. As always, MEMRI makes many interesting points. The conclusions:

There are recurrent themes in the various platforms that were highlighted. The platforms all support:

Creating a democratic, egalitarian, and federal system of government that guarantees the political freedoms of the various ethnic and religious groups.
Ending the occupation (with various degrees of urgency).
Building a strong but non-political army that protects the country's borders.
Preserving the Arab-Muslim identity of the country.
Putting an end to terrorism.
Supporting a bigger role for women in politics.
Assuring non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries.
Addressing economic reconstruction with various degrees of specificity and detail.
Fighting growing corruption in government.

Most of the platforms, however, fail to address in specific terms the most burning issues facing the voter: the loss of sense of security; unemployment; shortage of food supplies, electricity, drinking water, and, ironically, gasoline in a country rich with water resources and perhaps with the second largest oil reserves in the Middle East. There is hardly any reference to future economic policy with regard to private investment in the oil sector, the role of the private vis-à-vis the public sector, and the privatization of inefficient public entities.

The government that will be established after the elections will face enormous challenges. To succeed it will need to come up with a crash program, a "New Deal," that would provide quick and palpable relief.

Well that's MEMRI's take on things. Interesting. The rest of their piece is good as well, discussing each of the favored political organizations in detail.

Posted by Chester at January 29, 2005 12:17 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.theadventuresofchester.com/MT/mt-tb.cgi/540

Comments