**The Iraqi government has condemned the lifting of a ban on candidates with alleged links to Saddam Hussein’s party from contesting next month’s elections.**A spokesman said the court decision was “illegal and unconstitutional”.
Some 500 potential candidates with alleged ties to the banned Baath Party had been told they could not stand.
The 7 March election is regarded as a crucial test for Iraq’s national reconciliation process ahead of a planned US military withdrawal.
The ruling, by an appeals panel, overturned a ban on the hundreds of politicians from running for public office.
Post-polls investigations
Baathism is a form of secular Arab nationalism and was the ideology espoused by Saddam Hussein when he came to power.
The BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse in Baghdad says although the list of names straddles the sectarian divide, it is Sunni groups who have felt most targeted by the exclusions, and whose voices of protest have been heard loudest.
Although a minority, Sunni Muslims were dominant under Saddam Hussein’s rule but have since complained of being marginalised under the post-Saddam Shia-led government.
The ruling would allow the candidates to stand for election, and be subject to investigation only after the polls.
US officials had voiced concerns about the ban, fearing that it could inflame sectarian tensions and undermine confidence in the electoral process.
There are still more than a 100,000 American troops in Iraq and the Pentagon’s exit strategy depends in large part on a peaceful and credible election, our correspondent says.