Elections in Iraq possible at end of 2004, says UN chief

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Elections in Iraq possible at end of 2004, says UN chief

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United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday that the US-proposed caucus system to create Iraq's new parliament and government is not viable and it would be possible to hold direct elections in Iraq at the end of 2004.

In a report to the UN Security Council, Annan reiterated it is a consensus among Iraqis that "it would be extremely difficult and perhaps even hazardous" to try to organize general elections before June 30.

"There was equally a consensus that the caucus system as currently conceived is not a viable option," he said. "The (US-led) Coalition Provisional Authority itself accepts that it would be impractical to try and implement this system, which is totally alien to Iraqis."

Iraqis also agreed that elections are an important step in the long road towards establishing democratic governance based on the rule of law, but that "elections in themselves do not constitute democracy, he added.

Elections will need a minimum preparation time of about eight months after the legal framework has been completed, Annan noted. "If work was started immediately and the required political consensus was reached fairly rapidly, it would be possible to hold elections by the end of 2004."

he report was based on the findings of a UN mission, led by Annan's special adviser Lakhdar Brahimi, which spent more than one week in Iraq assessing the feasibility of holding direct elections.

The mission was dispatched at the request of the US-led coalition and the US-installed Iraqi Governing Council after Iraq's sovereignty transfer process hit snag.

Under a deal reached between the coalition and the Governing Council in mid-November, the coalition would turn over sovereignty to a provisional Iraqi government by June 30. The provisional government would be selected by an interim parliament, which would be created through caucuses in Iraq's 18 provinces.

The formula has been strongly opposed by Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who calls for direct elections so as to protect the interests of Shiites. Shiites account for around 60 percent of Iraq's population.

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