Iraq: Prime Minister 'determined to hold elections on time'
Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s spokesman said today that the government was determined to hold January 30 elections on time despite calls by Sunni Muslim politicians to delay the balloting for six months because of deteriorating security.
About 17 Sunni Muslim politicians urged the government on Friday to postpone the elections, in part to convince Sunni clerics to abandon their call for a boycott and to enable the authorities to secure polling stations.
However, the interim constitution and the UN Security Council have mandated a ballot by the end of January to meet demands by religious leaders of the majority Shiite community, which has been insisting on elections since the early months of the US military presence.
“The Iraqi government is determined, as I told you before, to hold elections on time,” Allawi’s spokesman Thair al-Naqeeb told reporters.
“The Iraqi government led by the prime minister is calling for all spectra of the Iraqi people to participate in the elections, and to contribute in the elections to build a strong democratic country.”
Al-Naqeeb said that boycotts do not serve “the country or the future of Iraq and we hope that there won’t be any boycott from any party whatsoever”.
Al-Naqeeb said Allawi “considers seriously the responsibility given to him” by the interim constitution and the Security Council “to carry out elections at the end of January”.
“The prime minister deeply understands the importance of this opinion” to delay the balloting “but he also understands the insistence of other political parties and national figures for holding elections on time."
He was referring among others to the country’s Shiite clerical hierarchy, which has insisted that the balloting be held on schedule.
Al-Naqeeb said the election commission had assured Allawi that they were ready to hold the election on January 30 despite the security crisis in Sunni Muslim sections of central, northern and western Iraq.
The spokesman also said Allawi, a secular Shiite, was not convinced that delaying the election would guarantee broader participation. Sunni Muslim clerics have called for a boycott to protest against the US-led attack on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, and insurgent groups have dismissed the balloting.
Al-Naqeeb also denied that Allawi’s Iraqi National Accord party had joined in calling for a delay, although he confirmed that a member was present at a meeting Friday in which other groups issued the call.
“Yes there were representatives from the party who were invited to the meeting yesterday,” al-Naqeeb said. “They did not participate in the statement. They were just listening to the other parties.”
