The al-Hadba party is a political party formed to contest the 2009 Iraqi governorate elections in Ninawa province. It is mostly made up of Sunni Arabs. Its leading member Atheel al-Nujaifi is brother of Usama al-Najafi who is part of the Iraqi National List led by former Iraqi Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi. It has also been reported that members of the coalition have the backing of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Name
The name "al-Hadba" is a reference to the leaning minaret of the oldest mosque in Mosul.
History
Hadba Party Seeks to Minimize Kurdish Influence as Mosul Faces a Wave of Assassinations Perhaps the most successful new political party in the recent provincial elections was the Hadba list in Ninevah province, which according to preliminary results received more than 48% of the vote there. Since the announcement of these results a week ago the party has maneuvered to form a political alliance which will allow it to govern the province without depending on Kurdish votes, even as Kurdish politicians seek to ensure that they still have a voice in the new provincial council. Both sides are claiming that their share of council seats will be bigger in the final election results than it was in the preliminary vote tallies, and the Hadba party has announced its efforts to form alliances with a number of smaller political parties.
Al-Hadba is an alliance of several smaller parties headed by Atheel Al-Najeefi, whose brother Usama is a member of Ayad Allawi's National Iraqi List in the national parliament. The brothers come from a prominent Mosul family, who have been famous as businessmen and breeders of prize Arabian horses. It is named for the Hadbaa’ Minaret, a tilting structure built more than 800 years ago by Sultan Nour Al-Din, which has been likened to the leaning tower of Pisa and is considered to be a symbol of Mosul's historical identity. The party campaigned as the voice of Mosul's Arab majority, promising to support a strong Iraqi central government and to oppose the annexation of northern Ninevah province by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Kurdish politicians have labeled Hadba leaders as racists and terrorist sympathizers, accusing the party of inciting hatred against Kurds in the province and opposing a fair resolution of territorial disputes. Arabs across Iraq boycotted the 2005 elections which formed the current provincial government, allowing Kurdish parties to control all levels of Ninevah's local government even in the majority-Arab city of Mosul. The Iraqi Army and Police units which patrolled Ninevah were until recently all loyal to the Kurdistan regional government, a situation which especially generated tension in Mosul, which is home to a large number of former Army officers and known for its deep Ba'athist sympathies. The Arab population of Mosul complained of abuse at the hands of Kurdish security forces and objected to the holding of many Arab suspects in prisons deep inside the territory of Kurdistan. The Kurds complain that many of their people have been killed by militant groups such as Al-Qaeda, and say that the recently created Arab police units are infiltrated by terrorist elements.
Kurdish politicians in Ninevah have long accepted that their dominance would end with the January 31st provincial elections, but it is almost certain they would have rather had to work with almost any Arab party other than Al-Hadba. The Kurdish alliance in the most recent elections was called the Ninevah Brotherly List, symbolizing its leaders’ desire to work amicably with different groups in the province. They are trying to ensure that they maintain some clout in the new provincial council, to leave the door open to the annexation of northern parts of the province currently controlled by Kurdish military units and to generally prevent Kurdish residents from becoming second-class citizens. A Kurdish parliament member declared on Friday that no Ninevah party would be able to achieve the majority necessary to govern without making alliances, saying that the Brotherly List would receive 30% of the seats after the final results were announced. On Saturday Usama Al-Najeefi responded by saying that the Hadba party could form a governing alliance all by itself, and that his party would in fact receive 60% of the seats after the final count. According to the preliminary results announced a week ago, the Hadba party received 48% of the votes and the Brotherly List received 25%.