Electoral commission registers 83 candidate lists in Iraq

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A total of 83 separate candidate lists have been submitted to the independent electoral commission to register for the Jan.30 general election in Iraq, the commission said in Baghdad Wednesday.

Deadline for submitting lists expired at 04:00 p.m. (1300 GMT) Wednesday, and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was among more than 5,000 hopefuls to register for the landmark polls.

The elections, the first after the US-led invasion last year, are aimed at forming a 275-seat national assembly, which is tasked to write a constitution.

Iraq's biggest Sunni Muslim party, the Islamic Party, presented a complete list of 275 candidates despite an earlier call for a delay of the elections for security concern.

The country's Shiite parties submitted a unified list backed by Iraq's top cleric, Great Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani.

And the electoral alliance of the Shiites, the United Iraqi Alliance, is comprised of 228 candidates and groups the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Dawa Party and theIraqi National Congress.

The coalition between Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan presented a list with 165 candidates.

The huge array of lists, however, did little to ease fears of a massive boycott in Sunni Arab areas where anti-US sentiments are high.

"Since Iraq is being treated as a single constituency, that can only give the (Shiite) south and the (Kurdish) north more political weight," said Adnan Pachachi, a veteran Sunni politician.

Pachachi said he feared turnout could be below 10 percent in rebel strongholds, leaving the future assembly dominated by Shiites and Kurds.

"I am expecting turnout of between 70 and 80 percent in Kurdishareas and 80 percent in south, but I fear it will be 10 percent orless in other areas like Al-Anbar province," said Pachachi.

Pachachi had earlier called for a postponement of the elections to give more time for Sunnis to be drawn into the political process.

While Wednesday is supposed to be the date for the start of election campaigning, deadly attacks continued throughout the country.

A bomb exploded Wednesday in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Karbala, killing seven people. In Mazaraa, south of Baghdad, residents found bodies of murdered men and women.

In another attack, a roadside bomb killed three Iraqis in Moqdadia, northeast of Baquba, just one day after insurgents ambushed a convoy south of the capital Baghdad, killing four policemen, wounding 20 more while 13 others went missing.