BAGHDAD - Only one in five candidates accused of being loyalists to Saddam Hussein's regime successfully fought an order banning them from running in Iraq's national elections next month, officials said Sunday. The Shiite official in charge of the vetting panel that is widely seen as targeting Sunnis also called on parliament to declare the already-outlawed Baath party a terrorist organization. In his first press conference since the Baathist ballot purge, Ahmed Chalabi said the Accountability and Justice Committee that he heads "managed to reach results supporting (the) constitution." The ban, which aims to bar candidates with links to the Baath party, is threatening to disrupt the March 7 parliamentary elections, and could throw the vote results in dispute if there is a broad perception that Sunnis have been politically sidelined. Chalabi is the Shiite politician who aided US efforts to drum up support for the 2003-US-led invasion that deposed Saddam Hussein. The legality of his panel also is under debate. He also accused Washington of meddling in Iraqi politics. US officials worry that escalating tensions over the ban could spill over into Iraq's streets, undermining hard-won security gains ahead of the planned withdrawal of American combat troops by the end of August. A spate of attacks targeting security forces, political figures and civilians has struck Baghdad in recent days, despite an overall decline in violence in Iraq.
