Middle East News
Row over "Baathist" candidate ban delays Iraq campaigning (Extra)
Feb 4, 2010, 16:00 GMT
Baghdad - Iraq's electoral commission on Thursday announced it was postponing the start of campaigning in the parliamentary elections following controversy over whether some 500 candidates should be allowed to run.
The electoral commission said campaigning would now begin on February 12, instead of February 7, as originally scheduled, to allow for more time to settle the question of whether 511 candidates banned in January for their alleged connections to the former ruling Baath Party should be allowed to run.
The commission on Wednesday lifted that ban, sparking widespread condemnation from Shiite political parties and government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, who called the lifting of the ban 'illegal and unconstitution.'
The election is on March 7.
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