Sunni Call for Post-Election Unification

Sheikh Ahmad Abd Al-Ghafur Al-Samarai, a member of the Iraq’s highest Sunni authority The Hayat Al-Ulama Al-Muslimin also known as the Association of Muslim Scholars or Muslim Ulama Council and the Imam of the Umm’ul-Kur’a Mosque said in a Friday sermon yesterday (February 4) that the new government should save Iraq from occupation and never accept directives from the White House. Al-Samarai continued: "In order to have a new page opened, the newly formed government should release the prisoners throughout the country and govern Iraq with unity and integrity." On the other side, holding a press briefing after Friday prayers, Iraq Sunni Foundation President Dr. Adnan Mohammed Selman announced that Sunnis’ boycotting the elections does not mean that they are against political participation: "We have preconditions for this, too. The US should release detainees and prisoners and ease the pressure on Sunni Ulema."

Meanwhile, Hamdiyah Al-Husseini of the Election Committee announced that 3.3 millions votes cast at 35 percent of the poll stations thoughout country have been counted. According to these figures, the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance has reportedly received 2.2 millions votes. Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s Iraq List, on the other hand, follows the Shiite Alliance with 597,700 votes.