Further Thoughts on Iraq's Elections

There are 321 seats in Iraq's parliament. According to Hameed, a regular commentor at Iraq the Model, only 62 members from the old parliament have been re-elected. The Sadrist group, the most ultra-Islamist of them all, got 70 seats. A full 251 seats went to other parties. This has to be a good sign.

The UN Security Council:

"took note of the findings of international and independent Iraqi observers “who affirmed their confidence in the overall integrity of the election."

[--]

"UN special representative to Iraq Ad Melkert described the polls as “credible” after the country’s Independent High Electoral Commission said there was no evidence of systematic or widespread fraud in the counting of ballots."

Of course, that hasn't stopped the exiled Moqtada al-Sadr from performing his usual stupid stunts.

There is still a long road ahead as the various parties work out an acceptable coalition. There are plenty of nay-sayers predicting doom and gloom, but I'm not one of them. Not yet anyway.

If the Iranian regime falls, things will certainly turn out for the better. Protests on the streets are proceeding apace, as recently as March 20th. Fatwas are being ignored. People are still shouting "death to the dictator" from the rooftops at night. Michael Ledeen, a leading authority on Iran, is quite certain the Mad Mullahs are doomed. Let's hope he's right. And by the way, I am in complete agreement with his assessment of the left.