Published: February 6, 2009
BAGHDAD: On battered blast walls and rusted telephone poles, hanging from street lights and village homes, the election posters that line the rubble-strewn road from Baghdad to Karbala show the familiar faces of the would-be leaders of Iraq.
Already withered and peeling, they are reminders of the election last weekend, in which national leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, backed local candidates in an effort to solidify power.
But is not among them.
Habboubi, a former Baathist who has largely been out of politics since 2003, managed to defeat not only the religious parties who controlled the province of Karbala but also Maliki's preferred candidates by a 2-1 margin in one of the bigger surprises in the provincial elections last week.
Habboubi had no list of candidates and ran under no party name, only his own. He succeeded, according to interviews with residents and other candidates, largely on the strength of a reputation earned years ago, before Iraq descended into chaos.
Born in Najaf, Habboubi worked in the 1970s at a local firehouse in Karbala and, even as he ascended the Baathist ranks, he maintained his reputation as a friend of the people.
"He sold his own car to help restore Ahmed bin Hashim shrine," recalled Muhammad Abdul Hassan, a firefighter in Karbala.
In one respect, Habboubi's victory is a reflection of how far Iraq has come since the first days after Saddam Hussein was overthrown. In turning away from the religious parties whose opposition to the occupation fueled their popularity, the voters in Karbala seemed to be looking for leaders offering pragmatic solutions to everyday concerns.
On his second visit to Iraq, the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki Moon, said Friday that provincial elections were a big step toward full democracy, but told Iraqis they still had work to do before they could "enjoy genuine freedom and security and prosperity," The Associated Press reported from Baghdad.
"You have come such a long way, but still you have to go a far way to say that you will fully be able to enjoy genuine freedom and security and prosperity," he said during a meeting in Baghdad with President Jalal Talabani.
In the Shiite-dominated south, the willingness to turn to Habboubi, a figure tied to Saddam's regime, also underscored continuing frustration over the failure to restore basic services.
In that regard, Habboubi's success also highlights the slow pace of reconstruction despite more than a year of relative security.
Habboubi could not be reached for comment and some residents speculated that he might be in hiding.
In the weeks before the election, a rumor circulated widely that Habboubi had been shot and killed.
"It was a great boost for him," said Ali Hussein, sales manager at a medical supply company.
The logic was that someone worth killing might be capable of battling corruption and entrenched interests.
But since Habboubi had no list of candidates and can not fill all the seats he seemingly won, there is speculation that he may be negotiating with either the religious parties or Maliki's Dawa party to share power.
There are 28 seats on the provincial council. Habboubi won 17 percent of the vote, according to a preliminary count, and the next two closest parties won 8 percent each. The result is all the more surprising since Maliki, whose party had a strong showing across the country, is from the Karbala region.
If Habboubi does attain a degree of control in Karbala, it will return him to a position he held before the war, when he was a deputy governor.
Sheik Ahmed Jabbar said that Habboubi had always maintained a strong reputation with the overwhelmingly Shiite population.
"He never caused problems for the people," Jabbar said, sitting in his office in central Karbala, sipping a can of orange soda while seated in front of an enlarged photo of Miami harbor.
Habboubi, though viewed as a secularist, is best known for creating four parks linking Karbala's holy shrines, often working on the project himself.
He bolstered his reputation during the invasion by returning to the firehouse where he once worked.
"He came here as a supervisor to take care of the employees and he never left his position," Hassan, the firefighter, said.
Tariq Maher, an employee of The New York Times, contributed to this article.
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