Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) The date of Iraq's elections is still uncertain. Abdel Hussein al-Hinduai, head of Iraq's electoral commission, said today that the commission itself did not have the power to postpone the elections scheduled for January 30 because it was set up by the United Nations and is thus a technical, not a political body.
A group of leading Iraqi political parties yesterday called for elections to be delayed. More than 15 groupsrepresenting mostly Sunnis, Kurds and secular Iraqis, including apparently Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's own partyurged a six-month postponement. They said that clashes between US-led forces and insurgents in Sunni areas could keep many people from voting and favour Shiite areas.
Iraq's electoral commission agreed to consider the request on Saturday, but both the Iraqi and US governments have voiced doubts about a date change. Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih said he was keen for the elections to be held as scheduled, although he added that this would be a challenge. US President Bush, for his part, said he "would hope they would go forward in January".
Representatives of Iraq's Shiite community, which accounts for about 60 per cent of the population, have said they are keen to avoid any delay in holding elections. But the parties which met said it was important that as many political groups and voters as possible should be able to participate in the election. They made the call for the delay in a petition signed on Friday. Also attending the meeting were three interim government cabinet ministers, along with a representative of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, some reports said.
Mohsen Abdul Hamid, leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, said it was important the government not be responsible for any delay. "The government can't talk about that," Abdul Hamid said. He added that Mr Allawi wanted political parties "to agree among themselves and talk to the United Nations so nobody would think that the government wants to remain in power for a longer period of time".
According to Iraq's interim constitution, elections must be held by the end of January.
