Word: baghdad
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...series of suicide bombings hit the Iraqi city of Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 31 people and wounding dozens more. The blasts, which came just days ahead of the country's March 7 parliamentary elections, are the latest in a string of attacks by extremists with links to al-Qaeda aimed at destabilizing the country and disrupting elections. In anticipation of further election-related violence, Iraqi officials are planning an increase in security measures across the country, including curfews, vehicle bans and heightened police surveillance...
That's accurate. The parties are running their campaigns in large part on substantive issues: most important, whether power in Iraq should be more centralized in the hands of the government in Baghdad or dispersed to its provinces and regions. The centralizers include al-Maliki's Shi'ite-dominated State of Law coalition, which is running on its record of providing security and disarming Iraq's militias. The more Sunni and secular Iraqi National Movement, led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, is likewise in favor of a strong central government. The push for decentralization is represented by the ruling...
...enough seats in parliament to form a government on their own - which means Iraqis may have to endure weeks of political wheeling and dealing. Meanwhile, Iraq's undercurrent of violence and sectarianism is resurfacing as the election nears. Dozens of bodies are turning up daily in the morgues of Baghdad and Mosul, including some with their heads cut off, a signature al-Qaeda calling card. Mortar shells are falling once again on the International Zone, probably the handiwork of radical Shi'ite militias. "After 2003, Iraqi politics got so complicated, with so many parties, and so many foreign countries...
...more Sunnis appear to have voted this time compared with 2005's turnout. But Maliki is unlikely to win a majority, and would need coalition partners - perhaps from among the Kurdish nationalist parties that again polled strongly enough in their own areas to potentially earn a kingmaking role in Baghdad, or from the Sadrists and other Shi'ite Islamist parties, or even from Allawi's bloc. But Allawi has alleged widespread fraud by his opponent's supporters, setting the stage for a potentially violent struggle over the election's legitimacy. For many Sunnis who voted for the first time...
...predominantly Sunni neighbors such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria supporting a greater share of power for Iraq's Sunnis. Allawi's list of candidates includes some of the key Sunni political players, and the self-styled strongman makes no secret of his desire to challenge Iranian influence in Baghdad. Iran would prefer that Maliki stay in power, though Tehran is even closer to his Shi'ite rivals such as Sadr and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq. (Watch a video about Iraq's vote...