Najaf’s “Finnish” governor may continue another term in office

Asaad al-Taee, who lived in Vantaa as refugee, leads Shi’ite holy city

Asaad-al-Taee

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One of the tightest contests in last weekend’s provincial council elections in Iraq took place in the holy city of Najaf, south of the capital Baghdad.
      The election results were also anticipated with a considerable amount of excitement in a residential apartment in the city of Vantaa in Southern Finland. This was due to the fact that the present governor of Najaf, Asaad al-Taee, used to live in Finland back in 1993-2005.
      Al-Taee and his family had to flee from Iraq in 1991, because he had taken part in activities against the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
      Five of al-Taee’s seven children still live in Finland - and are in close contact with their parents.
     
On Tuesday, Asaad al-Taee greeted a Helsingin Sanomat reporter, who reached him in Najaf via telephone, saying “Hyvää päivää” (Good afternoon) in fluent Finnish.
      “The weekend’s election went off peacefully without any problems”, al-Taee confirmed.
      His Shi’ite party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, nevertheless lost its status as the largest party on the Najaf provincial council. It was overtaken by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Dawa Party, another Shi’ite grouping.
      The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council would like to turn Najaf into the capital of a new self-ruled southern region.
      The Prime Minister’s party opposes the idea and emphasises the country’s central administration instead.
      So far these two parties have cooperated in the Iraqi Parliament.
     
In some of Iraq’s electoral precincts the counting of votes is still going on.
      Despite the division, the Najaf governor - who once lived in Vantaa and still holds a Finnish passport - may still continue as the leader of the Shi’ite holy city even in the coming term.
      None of the parties earned such a clear majority in the 28-strong provincial council that the governor could be selected directly from the party’s own ranks.
      “Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has already asked me if I would like to continue as the governor. I have not made up my mind yet”, Asaad al-Taee says.
     
Officially the transfer of power will take place in April. Before that it has to be decided who will be the governor of a city that is of considerable importance to all the world’s Shi’ite Muslims.
      Najaf houses the final resting place of prophet Mohammed’s cousin, Imam Ali, dating from 661, and the country’s most influential religious scholars live there.
      Each day the city is visited by 10,000 pilgrims, half of whom come from outside of Iraq. The city’s population is over a million.
     
What upset Najaf governor Asaad al-Taee somewhat about the election is the low voting turnout in the region, which did not go over 55%.
      “We still have a lot of work to do here”, al-Taee says and sends his regards to the President of Finland Tarja Halonen.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Shi´ite province handed over to Iraqi control - governor of Najaf a Finnish citizen (21.12.2006)

Links:
  Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (Wikipedia)
  Najaf (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat