The violence is so rampant in Iraq, that the candidates cannot have public rallies, instead necessarily holding
secret political rallies:
The threat of death hung so heavily over the election rally, held this week on the fifth floor of the General Factory for Vegetable Oil, that
the speakers refused to say whether they were candidates at all. "Too dangerous," said Hussein Ali, who spoke for the United Iraqi Alliance, a party fielding dozens of candidates for the elections here. "It's a secret."
And then Mr. Ali and his colleagues left, escorted by men with guns. So goes the election campaign unfolding across Iraq, a country simultaneously set to embark on an American-backed political experiment while writhing under a guerrilla insurgency dead set on disrupting the experiment. With only two weeks go to before the vote, scheduled for Jan. 30, guerrillas have stepped up their attacks and driven most candidates deep indoors, and on Saturday, the authorities said they would restrict traffic and set up cordons around polling places on election day.
A result, in large swaths of the country, is a campaign in the shadows, where candidates, ordinarily eager to get their messages to the public, are often too terrified to say their names. Instead of holding rallies, they meet voters in secret, if they meet them at all. Instead of canvassing for votes, they fend off death threats.
Yes, this looks promising. Good news for Iraqi political rousters, no pressure to drum up a crowd. Just goes to show you how desperate the insurgency is . . . <snark>