Iraqi Interior Minister Falah Naqib yesterday warned the country risked sliding into civil war if the Sunnis boycotted the Jan. 30 general elections. "Failing to take part in the elections is tantamount to treason and will lead to a civil war and the division of the country," the minister told reporters. "All Iraqis should take part in the elections as best they can. It is not crucial who they vote for, the important thing is that everyone participates," he said.Naqib himself is a member of the Sunni Arab minority, which has threatened to boycott the polls. Some argue that elections are impossible amid relentless nationwide violence, others intend to boycott the vote in protest at the presence of foreign troops, while extremists oppose the very idea of a democratic system for Iraq and seek to create chaos. Several leading Sunni Arab parties have repeatedly called for the elections to be delayed until some degree of stability is restored in the country, but the Iraqi government, the United States and the electoral commission have ruled out a postponement. Voter turnout is expected to be very low in the country's Sunni heartland, amid widespread fear among the population that going to a polling station would turn them into targets for the insurgency.
"If Iraqi Arabs, who today make up the best part of the country's backbone, are divided, the country itself will be torn and will turn into little fiefdoms and regress by 5,000 years," Naqib warned. He admitted that insurgent attacks would probably peak on election day and feared a surge of attacks in the capital. "I am expecting an escalation of terrorist acts in the coming days, notably in Baghdad," Naqib told reporters.
