Iraq poll tension mounting

The election-date dispute threatens to widen sectarian divisions as Iraqi fighters and US troops, backed by Iraqi National Guard, clash in most of the country's main cities.

A statement by 42 Shia and Turkomen parties, including the influential Dawa Party and the Shia Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said a postponement would be illegal.

SCIRI Spokesman Ammar al-Hakim told Aljazeera that the council is in favour of holding the elections as planned on 30 January rather than delaying it.

The Shia statement followed a petition on Friday by 17 political groups for a delay of up to six months to ensure the broadest possible participation in the elections.

The parties that backed the petition drawn up after a meeting on Friday at the house of elder statesman Adnan Pachachi included the Iraqi National Accord, interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's party, and the two main Kurdish parties in the north.

None the less, Allawi's spokesman said on Saturday the prime minister took very seriously his obligation to hold elections by the end of January, as mandated by Iraq's interim constitution and a United Nations Security Council resolution.

But the statement left open the possibility of a postponement.
"The prime minister is aware of the statement made by some parties yesterday, calling for a delay in holding elections," spokesman for the interim government, Thair al-Naqib said.

'Real democracy'

"The prime minister understands the concern of these groups, but is equally aware of the determination of others to see elections held on time," al-Naqib added.

The statement said Allawi believed "the key to building real and lasting democracy and stability in Iraq is ensuring all Iraqi citizens can vote".

It added that "he does not believe that a delay will necessarily make such broad participation any easier to achieve".

Several leading political parties have threatened to boycott the elections if they go ahead on time, saying violence in some areas would prevent people from having their voices heard.

A US offensive on areas such as Falluja, Samarra and Ramadi coupled with resistance from various groups has left substantial infrastructural damage, which would make it difficult for voting preparations.

"It is unthinkable that a large and important section of Iraqi society be left out of the political process," Pachachi told a news conference at his Baghdad home on Saturday.

Lack of security

"Security has to improve to enable people to vote without fear, with full security and without intimidation or pressure," Pachachi added.

Iraq's top elections official said on Saturday he alone could not delay the poll, but did not rule out a postponement.

"Legally, to be frank, we don't have that ability," the head of Iraq's electoral commission, Abd al-Husain Hindawi, said.

He said any delay to the poll would have to be discussed by the electoral commission, interim government, interim parliamentary assembly and the United Nations.

In a statement, the commission said it was still working towards holding elections on 30 January.

One of the major obstacles to gain wider support for an election delay is the need to convince Ayat Allah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's leading Shia cleric, who has repeatedly insisted elections must be held as soon as possible.

Aljazeera + Agencies

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D79E2E0E-A0B2-484C-9A3C-052701B5E13F.htm

Iraq's interim government is "determined" to hold elections on time, the spokesman for Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has said.

On Friday, 17 groups - representing mostly Sunnis, Kurds and secular Iraqis - urged a six-month postponement in view of the ongoing violence.

But the Iraqi and US governments and a Shia group have brushed the plea aside.

Meanwhile, aid is being delivered to Falluja following the heavy US-led offensive on the city.

The Iraqi Red Crescent told the BBC it was delivering aid on a daily basis.

Thaer al-Naqib, a spokesman for Mr Allawi, said: "The government is determined to hold elections at the scheduled date and is working with the various political forces to that purpose," said

The US envoy to Iraq, John Negroponte, said he believed there would be "adequate security" to allow elections to be held, reported AFP news agency.

January deadline

Earlier, the chair of the electoral commission said he would consider Friday's petition to delay the elections, but later Abdel Hussein al-Hindawi announced a delay was "out of the question".

"As far as we are concerned, the elections will be held at the date scheduled by the fundamental law," Mr Hindawi was quoted as saying by AFP.

"In theory, the elections cannot be postponed, bar a political disaster."

The deadline of the end of January for elections is laid out in the temporary Iraqi constitution, and the date is also approved by the UN Security Council.

There appears to be some confusion over who could authorise any delay.

The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih told the BBC such a decision would rest with the UN and the Iraqi electoral commission.

But Farid Ayar, a spokesman for the commission, said the "issue is more of a political nature not a technical one, because it is related to the unity, destiny and the future of Iraq", and would thus require the assent of government, AP news agency reported.

Election 'unthinkable'

The politicians behind Friday's petition said the ongoing violence required the date to be delayed.

But they are also concerned that Sunni Muslims are withdrawing from the political process following the US-led assault on the Sunni city of Falluja and conflict in other Sunni areas.

Some Sunni leaders called for a boycott of the vote.

"It is unthinkable that a large and important section of Iraqi society be left out of the political process," said Adnan Pachachi, a senior secular politician at the head of the drive to postpone elections, on Saturday.

But Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the influential Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), told Reuters a delay would not be acceptable under any circumstances.

Representatives of Iraq's Shia community, which accounts for about 60% of the population, have said they are keen to avoid postponing elections.

Falluja aid

The electoral commission has put back the deadline for prospective electoral candidates to register from 22 November to 5 December in the provinces and 10 December in Baghdad.

The Iraqi Red Crescent has told the BBC that aid is flowing into Falluja, nearly three weeks after the US-led offensive began there.

Convoys carrying food, water, medicine and blankets are now entering Falluja daily but there is still no running water or electricity.

A Red Crescent spokesman said thousands of families were in critical need of assistance, although no outbreaks of disease have been reported among the widespread destruction.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4047371.stm

raq’s deputy Prime Minister told an audience in Wales that it would be a “tough challenge” to hold delayed elections in the country on time.

His admission came as leading Iraqi politicians called for a six-month postponement of the scheduled January 30 poll date because of spiralling violence.

Giving the annual Keir Hardie lecture in Cwmaman, near Aberdeare, South Wales last night, Dr Barham Salih said that sticking to the election timetable would be difficult because of the ongoing security problems.

He said: “I want the elections to be held on time but it is going to be a tough challenge because the environment of intimidation is a factor.”

The interim government would be well advised to leave any decision to delay the election to the bodies overseeing them, including the UN, he said.

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http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3810560

Ignoring advice from some friends and rejecting pressure from many foes, Iraq’s interim government has just decided to hold the country’s first free elections on Jan.30 ,2005 . The election is for a constituent assembly, a Kurdish regional assembly, and local assemblies for the country’s 18 provinces.

The decision was announced on the eve of this week’s international conference on the future of Iraq held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. At least some participants had dropped hints that one of their objectives at the conference was to get the elections postponed until, in their words, “suitable conditions” for holding them were in place.

The camp of Saddam nostalgics had done all they could to derail the Iraqi elections. They even portrayed the hostage-takers and head-choppers that terrorize parts of Iraq as “la resistance” and insisted that they should have a place in shaping the future of the country.

Saddam nostalgics had, of course, prayed and worked for George W. Bush’s defeat in the US presidential election. The so-called Islamic Army “Jaish Al-Islam” gang of terrorists in Iraq had announced as early as last August that it was the duty of all true believers to ensure the defeat of George W. Bush and to prevent the holding of elections in Iraq.

With Bush re-elected, chances of sabotaging Iraq’s elections disappeared. But Saddam nostalgics would not give up that easily. Their next tactic was to call for a postponement of the election in the hope that Iraq would be plunged into civil war and chaos, enabling them to prove that they had been right in opposing US-led intervention in Iraq. The tactic failed because the new Iraqi leadership is convinced that the only way to put Iraq on a different course is to involve the mass of the people in decision-making. And that means holding elections.

According to Abdul-Hussein Al-Hindawi, a respected jurist who heads the independent election commission in Iraq, a total of 126 parties have registered to take part in the elections. These parties were chosen from among198 applicants. The only condition required was that a party be able to collect the signatures of at least 500 registered voters. A glance at the list of the approved parties reveals the widest spectrum of political ideologies and programs. There are more than a dozen Islamist groups along with as many Communist and other leftist ones. Two dozen moderate and left-of-center groups and parties are also in the field along with conservative, liberal, nationalist, and social-democratic outfits. The only label absent is that of the dissolved Baath Party, the old national-socialist movement that was turned into an instrument for Saddam Hussein’s despotic power.

Paul Bremer, the American diplomat who headed the Coalition Provisional Authority until the formal end of the occupation last June, dissolved the Baath Party last year. At the time many of us believed that the banning Baath was neither necessary nor politically useful. The reason was that free Iraq did not need to fear a fascist party that had long lost its popular base. Banning Baath, on the other hand, could bestow on it a status of martyr that it does not deserve. The independent election commission understood this fact and decided to allow at least eight Baathist groups to field lists of candidates under different labels.

By sticking to the election timetable the new Iraqi leaders have shown that they will not let terrorists dictate the course of events. This is the second time in six months that they show such resolve. Last June they came under internal and external pressure to postpone the formal end of occupation and the formation of an interim government. A series of spectacular terrorist attacks made the month of June the bloodiest since liberation. But the transfer of power took place, nonetheless.

With the date of elections now fixed, expect the terrorist campaign to work toward a new crescendo. Also expect, Saddam nostalgics to do all they can either to disrupt the process or to discredit it. New Iraq, however, has enough self-confidence to cope with such threats. But this does not mean that other more serious dangers do not exist. It is in coping with those dangers that the ability of new Iraq to build a better life will be tested.

What are these dangers? Chief among them is the temptation by some of those now in power to bend the rules, if not actually cheat, to arrange the results of the elections in their favor. Having lived under successive despotic regimes since its creation as a state in1921 , Iraq lacks a culture of freedom, pluralism, and respect for the rule of law. Thus it would be foolish to assume that interim Prime Minister Iyad Al— Allawi and his Cabinet colleagues are democrats who put principle above personal considerations.

An election does not consist solely of putting ballot papers in a box. No election could be free without a proper campaign of information, debate and discussion. This is why it is important that all the parties and groups have adequate access to the heavy media that are still controlled by the government. It is also important that those in power do not use the resources of the state in support of their parties’ candidates.

The outside world must do whatever needed to make sure that the Iraqi elections are free and fair. This requires despatching a large number of monitors and observers. The Iraqi election commission has issued invitations to all those who wish to come and help monitor the election. Special invitations have been issued to the United Nations, the European Union, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the non-aligned movement, the Arab League, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, and more than a dozen nongovernmental organizations. So far, however, almost all have responded with a mixture of faked interest and cooked-up excuses for not playing a part. All those interested in bringing democracy to Iraq should spend the next few months urging the widest possible international participation in monitoring the elections. The US Congress and the parliaments of the other major democracies should take a lead by sending monitoring teams.

Iraq and its friends must also be on guard against attempts by foreign powers to influence the elections through illegal means. Iran, for example, is channelling money to half a dozen parties campaigning on sectarian platforms. Syria is promoting a couple of crypto-Baathist groups while Turkey is investing in an openly ethnicist Turcoman outfit. For their part, several Gulf states are writing checks for Sunni fundamentalist groups. Last but not least, the parties in power within the coalition government are using public funds, which in many cases mean aid from the United States, in support of an Iraqi version of pork-barrel politics.

Iraq’s first-ever free election is going ahead in the teeth of internal and external opposition from all those who, for different reasons, do not wish Iraq to become a democracy. The coalition of Saddam nostalgics will not admit defeat easily. It will do all it can to bring liberated Iraq to grief. The only way to defeat that coalition is to make sure that January elections are free and fair, and seen as such by the people of Iraq.

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=55125&d=27&m=11&y=2004