Candidates Meet Deadline

NYT reported Four major Iraqi political alliances, along with dozens of smaller groupings and independent candidates, applied Friday to be included on the ballot in parliamentary elections in December, setting the stage for what was likely to be seven weeks of tumultuous campaigning. Three of the four alliances - Shiite, Kurdish and a secular slate led by the former prime minister - resemble the dominant groupings in the elections held in January; the fourth, a Sunni Arab alliance, represents a major departure from the last round of elections, which the Sunnis largely boycotted. But there were some high-profile defections from the January lists, most notably that of Ahmad Chalabi, a deputy prime minister and former member of the major Shiite alliance, who presented his own slate on Friday. His announcement represented yet another transformation for Iraq's most protean of politicians and his latest bid to move closer to the center of Iraqi political power.

Iraq is on track to Parlimentary Elections in December.