In Turmoil, Sunni Party in Iraq Calls for Vote Boycott

BAGHDAD — The Sunni political party whose two most prominent leaders were disqualified from next month’s parliamentary elections in Iraq because of supposed ties to Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party called Saturday for a boycott of the vote, raising fears of worsening sectarian tensions in an already volatile campaign.

It remains to be seen how deeply the call for a boycott will resonate in Iraq’s Sunni heartland. Sunnis largely boycotted the country’s last election in 2005 and as a result were disproportionately underrepresented in Parliament.

Even the party’s leader, Saleh al-Mutlaq, questioned the usefulness of a boycott last week, and on Saturday at least some prominent Sunni leaders indicated they would not heed the call.

Mr. Mutlaq’s party belongs to a broader coalition, known as Iraqiya, that has made it clear that it has no intention of boycotting. The coalition includes secular Shiite and Sunni parties and is led by a former prime minister, Ayad Allawi.

It has emerged as a powerful challenger to the electoral bloc led by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and another dominated by Shiite parties.

So far no other Sunni parties have indicated they would join a boycott. And in Kirkuk Province, officials of Mr. Mutlaq’s own party said Saturday that they would not boycott the election there.

Still, the call for a boycott further taints what many Iraqis — and the United States and United Nations — hoped would be an election that moved the country beyond its recent history of sectarian bitterness and bloodshed.

The action was prompted by the disqualification of hundreds of candidates, most of them Sunni, by a parliamentary commission last month.

In announcing its boycott, Mr. Mutlaq’s party, the National Dialogue Front, cited not only Mr. Mutlaq’s disqualification, but also a volatile security situation, the arrest or harassment of candidates and the influence of Iran on the country’s Shiite parties, a recurring suspicion among Sunnis.

One of the party’s candidates in Diyala Province, Najim al-Harbi, was arrested at his home on Feb. 7, part of what Mr. Maliki’s opponents have called a wave of intimidation against challengers.

The party’s statement on Saturday also cited recent statements by the top American military commander, Gen. Ray Odierno, and the ambassador, Christopher R. Hill, that the leaders of the commission disqualifying candidates had close ties to Iran.

“The National Dialogue Front cannot continue in a political process run by a foreign agenda,” the statement said.

Mr. Mutlaq, a former agronomist and a member of Parliament since 2006, has a strong following in Sunni strongholds. His campaign posters could still be seen Saturday on the road from Baghdad to Baquba, the capital of Diyala, whose population is a mix of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

Mr. Mutlaq was expelled by the Baath Party in 1977, but he emerged after the American invasion as a powerful voice for Sunni sentiments. He has become increasingly critical of his disqualification, which he appealed unsuccessfully, but he has stopped short of calling for a boycott.

“We have experienced the bitter taste of boycott before,” he said last week. He could not be reached Saturday to clarify his position and that of his party.

In Diyala, a prominent tribal leader in Baquba, Sheik Sadoon al-Dulaimi, said a boycott would only allow “non-patriotic parties” to gain control of the new Parliament.

“It will take us back to what happened in 2005,” he said.

Marc Santora and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Baquba, Iraq.