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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

IRAQ: Transitional law calls for three elections, says UN official

BAGHDAD, 19 April 2004 (IRIN) - Three elections, not one, need to be held in Iraq next January, the UN director of the Electoral Assistance Division said recently.

There needs to be an Iraqi national assembly to start, said Carina Perelli, the election director, who headed an assessment mission in Iraq in recent days.

In addition, there should be a separate Kurdish national assembly in the three northern governorates, and councils, similar to state legislatures, need to be elected, according to a transitional administrative law, that lays down how elections should happen in Iraq. It was approved on 15 November by US-led administrators and a government appointed by them.

But to make those elections happen by the 30 January deadline also stipulated in the law, several decisions need to be made by the end of May, Perelli said. An election group set up by the interim government needs to set election rules, for one thing, she said. The UN has also said it takes eight months to make the technical preparations necessary to hold an election.

"We are talking about a very, very tight time frame in order to reach some very important agreements," Perelli said. Not only that, but many are saying the current violence in Iraq makes it questionable if elections can be held at all.

UN workers who prepare for elections need to be out in the communities of Iraq, something they probably won't be allowed to do if the kidnapping of foreigners continues, said Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN Secretary-General's special adviser, following a recent trip to Iraq.

At one point last week, 40 foreigners were thought to be missing in Iraq. Sporadic fighting that killed hundreds of Iraqis and at least 10 US Marines continues in the city of Fallujah, just west of the capital, after the US military launched a campaign to wipe out resistance fighters. The Mehdi Army militia loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Sadr, battling against the Coalition, continues to control some roads and small towns in southern Iraq.

"Mortar bombs and ballots do not marry well," Perelli said. "I'm not being flippant, but I mean it depends again on what type of security environment there is."

Just as important, an election team will have to start from scratch - getting agreement from players around the country on who can run for office, who can vote, and how many seats there should be in each elected body. Brahimi said previously that a national council, similar to the "loya jirga" held in Afghanistan last year to kick off the election process there, could be held to choose political candidates and to decide on some of the issues.

The UN does not want to organise or run an election, but it wants to offer technical assistance, Perelli stressed.

The UN election official travelled around Iraq with a team of advisers before the security situation worsened. Perelli will make recommendations to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan about what she heard in Iraq and said she will ask him what the role of the United Nations should be.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Governance, (IRIN) Human Rights

[ENDS]

This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004