POLITICS-IRAQ: U.N. Team Signals that Jun.30 Poll Not Possible

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Peyman Pejman

DUBAI, Feb 13 2004 (IPS) - The United Nations’ fact-finding team in Iraq is signaling that it will recommend to Secretary General Kofi Annan that holding elections by Jun. 30 is not possible.

Jun. 30 is the day the U.S.-led invasion force is supposed to hand over political sovereignty to Iraqi officials.

At a press conference in Baghdad, Annan’s point man in Iraq, veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, predictably spoke in an indirect way.

“The Iraqi people’s demand for elections is legitimate. But the Iraqi people must also know that holding elections is a complex issue and unless adequate preparations are met, it will not have the expected benefits,” he told a press conference in Baghdad on Friday.

“Holding elections in an untimely fashion without preparation could lead to differences and create an even worse situation,” he added.

Brahimi and his team had primarily come to Iraq at the request of the country’s pre-eminent Shiite leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Sistani, who demanded that members of the next Iraqi government be elected through general polls

The U.S.-led invasion force, in an agreement with members of the Iraqi interim government, had suggested holding limited elections through a complex system of convening local councils in each of the 18 provinces.

The ayatollah had insisted for months that he would only listen to a U.N. team, which he deemed objective.

Brahimi, who held a 150-minute meeting with Sistani Thursday in the holy city of Najaf, the ayatollah’s headquarters, said the two men agreed on the necessity of holding elections.

“I agreed with his eminence that holding elections is the best way for choosing the next Iraqi government. But I believe he also agreed with me that conditions must be right before they can be held,” the U.N. envoy told the press conference.

But if the diplomat was somewhat tight-lipped, his spokesman was to the point.

In a telephone interview with IPS, Ahmed Fawzi dampened any hope of holding elections by the end of June. “Holding elections between now and end of June in the current atmosphere is highly unlikely for a number of reasons, foremost among which is security,” Fawzi said.

“There are various militia groups with guns around the country that can intimidate the candidates and voters. There is no legal framework. There is no political consensus. All of these are needed to hold elections and there is very little time between now and end of June to achieve them,” Fawzi said.

The U.N. team now goes back to New York to hand over its recommendations to the secretary general, who is expected to announce them to Iraqi officials and occupation forces by the end of next week.

The question that remains unanswered is the following: If elections are not held by Jun. 30, to whom will the Americans turn over sovereignty? Or will they?

The U.N. envoy said no one has suggested delaying the turnover and while negotiations on the transfer of power are still ongoing, it was not for the United Nations to interfere.

“I think all Iraqis would like sovereignty to return earlier rather than later and that Ayatollah Sistani shares these views. To whom will sovereignty be handed over? I don’t think any decision has been taken on that,” Brahimi added.

An idea that has gained ground in the past few days is one that was put forward by the former rotating chairman of the governing council, Adnan Pacheche.

“I have believed for some time now that the best way to get us out of the current impasse is to enlarge the governing council, to let it become more representative of the country, if you will, and then this body that has already been working for many months can continue to do its job until a fully representative body can take its place,” said Pacheche.

The governing council currently has 24 members – one was assassinated last year. Most council members, like 60 percent of Iraqis, are Shiites.

Sistani, like many in Iraq, has not recognised the governing council because its members were appointed by the U.S.-led occupation force. But he also has met in private with several of the council members and, at least tacitly, accepted its legitimacy.

“Sistani is not an unreasonable man. He has advisors who tell him things but if you give him a reasonable solution, I am sure he will accept it,” said Salem Chalabi, legal advisor to Ahmed Chalabi, a governing council member.