U.N. Official Says Early Iraq Elections Impossible

Date: 13 February 2004

By Fiona O'Brien

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.N. official said Friday elections could not be held in Iraq before the U.S.-led authorities hand power to an Iraqi government in June.

The United Nations is trying to mediate in a dispute between Iraq's majority Shi'ites, who want elections before the transfer, and Washington which says there is not enough time to organize them.

"It's not a question of delaying (the handover). It's finding a new timetable," Ahmad Fawzi told BBC radio. "Elections will take place when the country is ready and that will be after the handover of power."

Fawzi, a spokesman for U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, was speaking a day after Brahimi held talks with top Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who has spearheaded calls for elections before the June 30 handover.

Brahimi, due in Kuwait Saturday, said most Iraqis he met wanted early elections. But the message was also that polls must be well prepared.

"I think we have agreed that the timing (of polls) should not be a prisoner to any deadlines," Brahimi told reporters after meeting Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council.

"Elections should be held as early as possible but not earlier than possible."

He said a proposal for a feasible timeline would be submitted to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The United States had proposed that regional caucuses pick a transitional government for Iraq, which would rule until 2005.

Sistani has refused to meet anyone from the U.S.-led administration but met Brahimi Thursday in the holy city of Najaf. Brahimi said the talks were good, but gave no indication whether Sistani would support delaying polls beyond June 30.

The Shi'ites, who were oppressed for years by ousted leader Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, make up 60 percent of Iraq's population and would likely dominate in an election.

INSECURITY

Security is one reason it would be difficult to hold elections soon. Two suicide bombs killed at least 100 Iraqis this week, mostly civilians, and insurgents regularly attack U.S. soldiers or anyone they see as cooperating with them.

The U.S. military said Friday a U.S. military policeman was killed on patrol in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib suburb Thursday night. He was the 375th American soldier to die in combat since the United States and its allies invaded Iraq in March.

The top U.S. commander in the Middle East, General John Abizaid, escaped an attack on his convoy unscathed Thursday. He was visiting Falluja, a hotbed of resistance in Iraq's Sunni heartland west of the capital.

Security aside, Iraq needs to put electoral registers and laws in place before holding polls.

In New York, diplomats said they expected the U.N. to propose an alternative way to establish a government the Iraqis would see as legitimate, instead of the caucus system or premature elections.

Proposals include expanding the current Governing Council or forming another body made up of a council of elders.

Another proposal has been for the United Nations to administer Iraq until elections can be held, a suggestion U.N. officials would be reluctant to accept, mainly due to security.

Not all Iraqis favor quick elections. The Sunni minority, from which Saddam's ruling clique was largely drawn, fears an early vote would leave it at the mercy of Shi'ites and Kurds.

Annan is expected to give his opinion on how to proceed on about February 21.

(additional reporting by Michael Georgy and Evelyn Leopold at the United Nations)

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