Do supporters of dictatorship deserve to participate in a democracy? Can human rights be granted to those who abuse them? Is there any way to prevent supporters of tyranny from hi-jacking the democratic process? Such questions surfaced in Iraq after the electoral committee banned dozens of Sunni candidates from running in the legislative elections scheduled for 7 March. The reason given for the ban was that the candidates had connections with the disbanded Baath Party. But many in Iraq say that the government is playing on Shia sentiments. The ban on Baathist candidates coincided with a pledge by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki to purge government departments of all Baathists. The move was greeted with joy in Shia and Kurdish areas, which suffered under Saddam. In the impoverished Sadr City section of Baghdad, a Shia man said he would rather vote for the devil than a Baathist. It is not only hatred that moves Shias and Kurds to take arbitrary measures against the Baathists. Some Iraqis believe that, if given half a chance, the Baathists will seize power yet again. "Baathists used to engage in murder, torture, and repression, and now they want to get into parliament and be part of a democracy that they never allowed throughout their bloody history," pointed out one Shia man from the city of Najaf. Many Iraqis, however, fear that the exclusion of Baathists, and other supporters of the deposed regime, from Iraq's political life will pave the way for the exclusion of other groups and individuals. Democracy should apply to all Iraqis, including Baathists, they say. Others stress that the exclusion of Sunnis from the elections could easily lead to an escalation in sectarian violence. The Iraqi Baath Party was not exclusively Sunni. Sunnis may have occupied most of the top positions but there were many Shias in the ranks. The ban on nearly 150 Sunni candidates is disheartening. The move bodes ill for democracy and Iraqi interests. The ban on Sunnis was promoted, suggest many observers, by outside powers, not least Tehran. Iraq stands at a crossroads. It may continue along the divisive, sectarian path it has trodden since the US invasion, or it may move towards a new political dispensation, in which the political arena is open to all Iraqis, regardless of their religious or political affiliations. The latter course will remain a dream unless the past, with all its pains and sorrows, is set aside. This is the price the Iraqis must pay to have true democracy. Unless Iraqis agree that all citizens are equal, Iraq will remain mired in a vicious cycle that harms everyone.
