Underfunded parties fight to be heard before elections

BAGHDAD -- The National Democratic Party in Iraq has fought for six decades against various tyrannical regimes. It has voiced a tolerant, grass-roots democratic vision for unifying the country. It has leaders who stuck it out instead of fleeing into exile.

It also has virtually no chance when citizens go to the polls on Jan. 30.

The National Democratic Party is among countless groups fighting to be heard in Iraq's largely unregulated political system, which includes 111 parties, coalitions, and individuals in the upcoming balloting.

Frustrations among under-funded groups such as the National Democratic Party run in sharp contrast to emerging parties such as Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's coalition, called Iraqi List, and the United Iraqi Alliance.

Allawi's party and the alliance, both led by former exiles with ample resources, are flooding the airwaves with commercials. Analysts expect both groups will see huge triumphs at the polls.

''There's no doubt that money for media is going to play heavily in this election," said a senior US diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Iraqi election regulations require transparency on campaign money, and rules bar contributions from militia or insurgent groups. Candidates also must sign a statement pledging not to take money from foreign sources.

But officials say there is no way to monitor or regulate the money thought to be pouring into Iraq, where most commerce is conducted in cash.

''Let's be honest with each other," the diplomat said. ''No one is going to be able to monitor anyone who wants to slip funds into the hands of any given political party."

In background briefings, US officials have repeatedly and clearly insisted that no US government money has been used to back any candidates in the elections.

Iraq also has a media commission that requires television stations to give parties equal time, but this is largely ignored. In fact, many parties have their own TV and radio stations, which seem to give news coverage only to their candidates.

Allawi has been running nonstop ads on Arabic-language TV, especially on Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based station owned by interests in Saudi Arabia, where Allawi spent a number of his exile years.

The United Iraqi Alliance -- with the apparent endorsement of Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani -- has been running nonstop election programming on its al-Furat satellite TV station. Many of its leaders spent decades in exile in Iran, and much of the station's programming -- such as interviews with citizen after citizen expressing an intention to vote for the alliance -- resembles state-controlled Iranian television.

It was not supposed to happen this way.

An independent election commission is supposed to be enforcing rules and referring violations to the judicial system. But candidates do not seem to fear the commission, and commission officials say they are too busy protecting workers from insurgents to monitor spending by candidates.

''Most of the parties said our finances depend on our members and such kinds of things," said Harith Mohammad Hassan, the commission's deputy director. ''And we have no ability to check this to be sure to investigate. If we depended on such things, maybe we'd have no election."

Meanwhile, officials with smaller parties suspect that the interim government has little incentive to look for violations because it may be the largest culprit.

''The problem is, most of the government officials are running for the elections," said Mishan al-Jabouri, an official in the Iraqi Homeland Party. ''Their money is from questionable sources. So why would they want to monitor the elections?"

In the absence of real monitoring, politicians seem to be playing free and loose with cash.

Steve Negus, a Baghdad correspondent for London's Financial Times, said he was offered a gift after attending a news conference for Allawi's party. He declined, but said officials ''called the journalists forward one by one and gave them an envelope with a hundred dollars in it."

Allawi aides later termed the gifts ''just hospitality." Asked about the incident during a recent TV interview, Allawi laughed and jokingly opened his jacket to show he had no hidden cash.

Allawi has unleashed a flood of TV ads costing about $50 a second to air. A slick hourlong biography has been airing on Al Arabiya.

The United Iraqi Alliance, led by Shi'ite cleric Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, has mobilized the political and financial muscle of the mosques it controls to garner support for its group of candidates, denoted by the number 169 and the icon of a lit candle on the ballot.

With access to the massive Iraqi Shi'ite ''waqf," or religious endowment, it has printed millions of posters that have been put up around the country. ''We are running the biggest election campaign in Iraq so far," said Sheik Jalaledin al-Saqeer, who operated the waqf until several months ago and is now running as a candidate on the list.

His Baratha Mosque alone has printed 1.2 million posters.

Many wonder where the money is coming from.

''I don't want to mention names of countries or parties, but obviously some people are getting money from abroad," said Adnan Pachachi, leader of the Iraqi Independent Democrats, another small party. ''There's no doubt because campaigning costs money. Obviously, there's not much money inside Iraq."

Indeed, the prospects for political fund-raising in the country are bleak.

There is no public financing of campaigns and even Iraqis who have money have no experience making donations.

''Iraqis don't understand the process of giving money to the politicians," said Ahmad Barrak, a candidate running for office as a member of the secular Democratic Society Movement.

At the offices of the National Democratic Party, a cold breeze wafted through. Hashem Shabli, a party leader, apologizes for the lack of heating kerosene -- available at a premium on the black market -- as he prepares glasses of tea and shows off the group's campaign literature. The red ink on the posters bleeds into the yellow.

Shabli acknowledged that his party's posters and newspapers will be no match for the flashy TV commercials and muscular mosque-funded campaigns of the two main exile parties.

Still, he said the party would refuse donations from any nonmember.

''Our commitment to our principles and our political ethics has given our party its position in the minds of the people," he said. ''It has provided us with respect among the people. That's something you can't buy."