(U.S. Appointed) Iraqi President Backs Jan. 30 Elections

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=716&e=4&u=/ap/20041201/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites)'s president, a Sunni Muslim, said Wednesday that elections should be held on time on Jan. 30, giving key support to the timetable despite violence in large parts of the country and calls by some powerful Sunnis to postpone the vote.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, meanwhile, met Iraqi Sunni tribal leaders in neighboring Jordan, trying to drum up support for the election, seen as vital for building a democratic government in Iraq.

Allawi earlier denied media reports that he would meet members of the opposition. But he did hold talks with figures who are powerful in the Sunni regions of central Iraq where opposition to his U.S.-backed administration is strong and insurgent violence has been fiercest.

Insurgents continued to launch attacks. On Baghdad's dangerous airport highway, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive-laden vehicle near two SUVs, wounding three civilians, according to police. One of the SUVs was left lying overturned in the road after the blast, which hit the same spot on the highway where a suicide bomber rammed a U.S. military convoy a day earlier, wounding several soldiers.

more

[VegasWolf]

1. No comment needed. Headline speaks for itself.

[maddezmom]

2. the votes have already been counted...the election is a farce

:eyes:

[heyphillip]

3. Iraq elections

Yep this is a farce every body knows damn well that this Allawi puppet will be the winner of these Jan. so called demorcratic elections.

[maddezmom]

4. What we care about more than holding elections is the result of these elec

At issue is whether Iraq can emerge from its deepening crisis as the Arab world's beacon of freedom and tolerance — as some American officials predicted before the March 2003 invasion — or plunge deeper into chaos and violence.


Ghazi al-Yawer, Iraq's interim president and a Sunni Arab, said Wednesday he supported calls for the election to be held on time, but also dwelt on the difficulties involved.


"There are areas in Iraq, where the security situation is very bad. There are areas where no one has been able to give out even one voter registration sheet. What we care about more than holding elections is the result of these elections," he told a news conference.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=9&u=/ap/20041202/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_electoral_upheavals