Shiite groups present 228 candidates for Iraq elections News
Shiite groups present 228 candidates for Iraq elections

[JURIST] The United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of 23 mainstream Shiite groups under the auspices of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, announced Thursday a list of 228 candidates running for office in the Iraq elections scheduled for January 30. Iraq's Sunni factions, who have indicated that they may boycott the election, were not included in the list, and have not announced their own candidates. In the upcoming election, Iraqis will choose a 275-member national assembly (Majlis Watani) that will write a permanent constitution to replace the current Transitional Administrative Law. Voting will be done by party list, meaning that people will not vote for individual candidates but for coalitions like the one presented on Thursday. AP has more. BBC News has background on the Iraqi leaders likely to be influential in the upcoming election.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Ku Klux Klan founded

The US hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded on December 24, 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee as a reaction to reconstruction efforts following the Union victory in the American Civil War. The group would later become notorious for its attacks on Black Americans, being targeted by the Enforcement Act of 1871, which imposed civil and criminal liability for deprivation of constitutional rights. Read the Enforcement Act of 1871.  

Hamid Karzai born

On December 24, 1957, Hamid Karzai was born in Karz, Afghanistan. He would go on to become in 2004 his country's first elected president after the end of Taliban rule in 2001.