Rift in Iraq electoral commission

"In the light of the sensitive security and political situation, to preserve the credibility and transparency of the commission's work... and to guarantee its independence, the commission has decided to suppress the position of official spokesman until further notice," the commission said in a statement.

"The public relations committee is the only one authorised to publish commission statements... Any declaration by a commission member will be considered a personal opinion and the commission will not be responsible for any consequence," it said.

Farid Ayar, the spokesman at the centre of the quarrel, fiercely rejected the statement.

"These comments are nothing but a jealous rumour... spread by those who do not wish to see a happy end to the electoral process," he said.

Mr Ayar accused commission chairman Abdul Hussein al-Hindawi of initiating the statement in retaliation for his proposal to install a rotating presidency.

"He lashed out at me because I brought up this issue," Mr Ayar said, deploring "the differences which have emerged in the commission".

Mr Ayar insisted he would remain spokesman, but accused the commission of "so far failing to make the important decisions".

But Mr Hindawi confirmed the decision to scrap Mr Ayar's post.

"There were statements which did not reflect the views of the commission," he said.

Adel al-Lami, another senior member of the commission, confirmed that Mr Ayar's position had been scrapped but that he remained part of the board.

But Mr Lami stressed that the crisis did not jeopardise the organisation of the milestone general elections, the first free multi-party polls in Iraq for half a century.

"The commission is working for these elections to take place. Nothing happening inside the commission can prevent them now," he said.

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