An Iraqi appeals panel that angered Shiite leaders by suspending a ban on candidates accused of links to Saddam Hussein's Baath party until after an election reversed its decision Sunday, politicians said. The change came as Shiite parties held protests and vowed to purge Baath loyalists. It took some windout of a furore that has stoked tensions before the March 7 vote, and parliament delayed a planned debate on the issue as a result. The panel decided it had made a mistake thinking it needed to consider the entire list of nearly 500 candidates instead of just 177 politicians who appealed, said Falah Shanshal, a senior lawmaker. It will examine the appeals before the vote, he said. The Shiite-led government's ire and calls for a campaign against Baathists could lead to a dangerous witchhunt that might reopen sectarian wounds between Sunnis who dominated Iraq under Saddam and the Shiite majority just as overall violence fades. Fanning fears of a Baathist revival might benefit Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and other Shiite leaders, as it could win back voters who might be leaning toward secular, cross-confessional groups, like ex-prime minister Ayad Allawi's. “We should not stand here with our hands tied during this sensitive period. We should take revenge for our martyrs, prisoners, the displaced and the homeless left by the former regime,” Baghdad provincial governor Salah Abdul-Razzaq, a senior member of Maliki's Dawa party, told protesters. “We will de-Baathify the Baghdad administration,” he said, adding that the Baath party “and its instruments Al-Qaeda” were behind recent bomb attacks that have killed dozens of Iraqis in Baghdad and in the Shiite holy city of Karbala. Local government leaders in Basra affiliated with Dawa and the other main Shi'ite blocs, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI) and anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement, made similar vows at a rally to purge the city of Baath sympathizers. The ban on the candidates imposed by a body controlled by Shiite politicians with ties to Iran is dominating the ballot, viewed as a critical juncture as US troops prepare to withdraw and Iraq signs multibillion-dollar deals with oil firms. The vote could lead to a more stable, if still fragile, democracy or possibly lurch Iraq back into sectarian conflict. The furore has already led to a delay in the start of election campaigning to Feb. 12 from Feb. 7, although that did not stop Sunday's rallies from looking like campaign events. Shiites along with Iraq's minority Kurds were brutally suppressed and often slaughtered by Saddam. Sunnis largely boycotted the last national election in 2005 and resentment at their loss of power helped fuel a ferocious insurgency. US officials fear that Sunnis may take up arms again if they feel they are being disenfranchised this time. The focus on Baathists benefits the ruling Shiite parties as it distracts attention from corruption, still creaky public services like power and security breaches that have allowed several major suicide bomb attacks in recent months. Maliki has staked much of his re-election hopes on being credited for a sharp fall in violence over the past two years. The Baath spotlight also unites Iraq's Shiite factions. That suits Iran, which wants fellow Shi'ites to remain in charge of a neighbour with which it fought an 8
