Marc Lynch celebrates the election breakthrough:
This doesn't mean that all is now rosy. The elections, as I wrote yesterday, may still very well fail to produce "meaningful change" (however this is defined) and could still lead to disappointment and frustration among the losers. The process of forming a new government after the elections could prove explosive and drawn-out. Everyone -- Iraqis, Americans and other international actors -- should be proactive about avoiding problems such as those which hamstrung the recent Afghan elections (or even the Iranian election or the 2005 Iraqi election).
The first step is to do everything possible to help ensure a free, transparent, and clean election --- which should include a robust system of international monitors (whether American, UN, EU or independent NGO), as many Iraqi political leaders (including Vice President Hashemi yesterday) have requested.
But that's for tomorrow. For now, a sigh of relief that the political crisis over the election ban appears to have been averted -- a good sign for the ability of Iraqis to save themselves from such logjams, and a credit to the Obama administration's approach.
Earlier thoughts here.