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MANAMA: The Iraqi elections scheduled for
January 30 could be postponed for a few weeks to
ensure they are held in a more secure environment,
it was revealed last night. Interim Iraqi Prime
Minister Iyad Allawi is reportedly conducting secret
talks with the US administration in a bid to agree a
joint decision, Iraqi politicians close to Mr Allawi
revealed to Akhbar Al Khaleej correspondent in
Baghdad Dr Hameed Abdulla.
The initiative follows the decision taken by several
influential Iraqi political forces to boycott the
polls.
The last few weeks have also witnessed a big
resurgence of violence in a bid to undermine the
electoral process.
Several Arab and European countries in addition to
pro-Washington Iraqi groups are also reportedly
urging the US administration to delay the polls.
The same sources said that President George W Bush
had agreed to the delay in principle.
The US administration has reportedly set five
conditions for the elections to be postponed. They
are:
1. The Shi'ite authority, led by Grand Ayatollah Ali
Sistani, and Kurdish political leaders should
announce unequivocally that they support the
decision to postpone the polls. Washington does not
want to antagonise its potential political allies,
particularly Kurds and Shi'ites.
2. Sunni leaders should pledge to take part in
rescheduled elections if they are delayed.
3. Sunni leaders should put pressure on the
insurgents to halt their attacks on the coalitions
forces, take part in the polls and refrain from any
acts of violence or intimidation.
4. The Sunnis should pledge to abide by the
elections results even if the Shi'ites win by a
landslide.
5. The Sunnite MPs together with other
representatives should pledge to actively contribute
to drafting the new permanent Iraqi constitution,
without seeking to impose their own terms.
Akhbar Al Khaleej said the Security Council would
then convene to set a new and non-negotiable
election date.
Sunnis Scholars Organ-isation spokesman Shaikh
Muthanna Dhari reiterated the decision to boycott
the elections unless an exact date was announced for
occupation forces to leave Iraq. He also called for
UN forces to supervise the elections.
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