Iraq's Allawi pledges to stick to elections schedule

By Seattle Times news services

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"We definitely are going to stick to the timetable of the elections in January next year. Democracy will prevail," Allawi said in London after meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Allawi is heading to the United States to meet with President Bush and attend the U.N. General Assembly session.

Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that there could not be "credible elections if the security conditions continue as they are now."

Despite the presence of more than 150,000 foreign troops, insurgent attacks in Iraq continue to rise. Several areas — in the Sunni Muslim center of the country and the Shiite south, as well as parts of Baghdad — remain out of government and U.S. military control.

Attempts by the insurgents to hamper election preparations, disrupt voting and intimidate people to vote in a certain way or not vote at all could damage the fairness of the elections, said Fouad Massoum, president of Iraq's recently elected National Council.

"In all elections in the world, breaches occur," he said. "I don't think that elections in Iraq are going to be 100 percent free and fair.

"But this is not important if we take into consideration the circumstances we are living in. Even having an election with 60 percent fairness and freedom is better than not having one."

The U.S. military recently launched a nationwide offensive with the intention of pacifying all insurgent strongholds by the end of December, in an effort to hand over security responsibilities to local police forces by the election.

Allawi also has said that even if some areas of Iraq are not able to participate in the election, its results still would be valid.

He said, for example, that even if a town of 300,000 — the size of Fallujah, which is controlled by the insurgents — is excluded from voting, it would not impinge on the democratic rights of Iraq's remaining 25 million people.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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