Iraqis are holding parliamentary elections on March 6 with many hopes for a better future. After more than six years since the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime, Iraqis must have reached a level of maturity to take the steps required to build up a unified stable state.

The security and the welfare of grief-stricken Iraqi people stand above any short-term personal or factional political gains. In the run-up to parliamentary election campaigns the hopefuls should seriously avoid beating the drums of sectarian or ethnic differences.
In a budding democracy like Iraq, where the tolerance level is not that high yet, any miscalculated move or statement by political aspirants may cost the country dearly.
Competition among rival groups is a normal thing and necessary for the promotion of democratic values in any society but the candidates should not turn competition into an open confrontation.
But, unfortunately, according to investigative reports, certain local Iraqi groups and individuals, who are mostly the remnants of the Baathist regime, have been complying with terrorists to wreak havoc in the country in order to prove the current Iraqi government as inefficient.
Likewise, certain Arab countries, who have also been fearful of a rising democracy in the Arab world, have been fanning the sectarian-flame in Iraq since the Saddam regime was thrown into the dustbin of history.
Certainly terrorists could not have used the country as a backyard for their vicious acts if some Iraqi groups had acted in line with the interests of the country and the lives of its citizens.
Even now a massive propaganda has been launched against Iraq’s Accountability and Justice Commission for banning certain candidates from running for parliament.
Though it is expected that the commission show maximum flexibility to approve the candidates whose hands are not tainted with the Iraqi people’s blood, it is also not sensible to allow a person or party, who has ties to Saddam’s cruel Baath Party, to enter the parliament.
Actually there are moderate Baathists and extremist Baathists but any person who has not proved his concern for the security of Iraqi citizens over the last seven years there is no guarantee that he would not seek to undermine the government if he finds a seat in the parliament or takes over a public post.
Now that a new opportunity has emerged to promote unity in Iraq, the citizens, with whatever political persuasions, are expected to take part in the March polls massively and vote for their favored candidates in a free and fair election.
And more importantly those who will take the helm are expected to set the stage for building a safe, stable, and unified Iraq.
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