Iraq religious parties may face election backlash

By Missy Ryan

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -When Iraqis last voted in 2005, some in Washington feared the mainly Muslim nation would veer in the direction of Iran, an Islamic theocracy, instead of becoming the moderate democracy they envisioned for post-Saddam Iraq.

The question when Iraqis elect new provincial leaders on January 31 will be whether the religious parties that have dominated politics since then can hang on to power despite a bitterness felt by voters starved of services and security.

"Religious parties didn't keep their promises. They exploited our problems," said Safaa Kadhim, a teacher in Basra, reflecting anger voiced across Iraq toward the major parties, mostly founded along sectarian lines and seen by many as corrupt and self-serving.

"The voter must be more careful this time, and vote for someone who is deserving," Kadhim said.

Such rumblings are a warning for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI) -- which represent Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim majority -- and the Iraqi Islamic Party which is the biggest Sunni Arab group.

All face challenges from fledgling tribal and nationalist movements almost six years after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, and after years of horrific sectarian bloodshed in which tens of thousands died.

In an opinion poll by the government's National Media Center in November, 68 percent of those questioned rejected the use of religious appeals in the campaign and 42 percent said they favored secular parties, while 31 percent supported religious parties.

A U.S. official in Baghdad said a steep decline in militia and Sunni-Shi'ite sectarian violence that peaked in 2006 and 2007 had fueled a tentative swing away from sectarian politics.