Candidate From Allawi's List Killed

A candidate from the party of former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi National List, has been murdered. Security sources say Ahmad Shaalan al-Darraji was killed instantly when he was struck down by a hail of gunfire as he walked along a road in the town of Imara in the south of the country.

The Iraqi National List is considered one of the most important election coalitions taking part in Iraq's December 15 elections. The largely secular list includes his own Iraqi National Accord party, the Communist Party, socialists, and supporters of Sunni politicians Adnan Pachachi and deputy president Ghazi al-Yawar.

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.235611448&par=0
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The Madhi Army keeps wacking members of Allawi's list. They killed 1 Communist and 2 Socialists on his list last week. Allawi's milita the INA hasn't responded to the attacks as yet.

Could very well be. He has an interest in keeping a secular Sunni-Shiite coalition from getting votes.

Is al-Sadr running in this election? Which party would he run under, if he did?

Probably the worst case of violence was the one when militia men attacked an office of the communist party (running as part of Allawi’s list) in Sdar city during an electoral event and resulted in killing two of the party members.

The incident is being strongly condemned and the accusation fingers are pointing at Sadr militia since they are the only militia in Sdar city and the government is supposed to take firmer actions against the perpetrators but it seems the government still wants to lose more of its credibility and reputation.

In another act of violence, Allawi’s list lost another campaign worker in Hilla. It’s worth mentioning that two other workers were killed in Sadr city last week. Allawi has voiced his condemnation and concerns and demanded investigations.

The Baghdad paper that speaks for Allawi’s INA party reported that several memos have been sent to the IECI regarding these incidents and added that Allawi has met the UN envoy to Iraq Ashraf Qazi and Abdul Hussein al-Hindawi the head of the IECI to discuss the measures that can prevent the occurrence of more electoral violations.

http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/
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Sadr is running as part of the UIA.

Khomeni was for the secular Iranians when he went back to Iran from his exile in France.

but he's just a young guy - early 30s? - and this is a culture that respects age. al-Sistani is the one with the religious authority to my knowledge. And he's staying out of this election (other than encouraging people to vote)

that we see in the US and that is religion and politics coming together.