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Referendum preparations in Iraq mostly
complete
5.10.2005
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Baghdad,Iraq 5
Oct. (AKI) - Preparations for Iraq's constitutional
referendum on October 15 are largely complete and
early indications on how the vote will proceed from
a technical point of view are positive, the United
Nations' top electoral official said on Tuesday.
With UN technical and planning support, the
Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) has
delivered almost 2 million kilos of materials such
as ballots, polling boxes and voter screens to
governorate electoral hubs across the country for
more than 15 million eligible Iraqis.
"The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq has
put into place an effective operation to carry out
the 15 October referendum,” the Director of the UN
Electoral Assistance Division (EAD), Carina Perelli,
said. “Important work has been carried out by this
national institution to ensure that Iraqis are both
responsible for organising the referendum as well as
voting in it."
The UN, which has a mandate to provide strategic
advice and technical assistance to the IECI under
Security Council Resolution 1546, has been
supporting the IECI since its establishment in May
2004. Under the coordination of the UN Electoral
Assistance Team, some 45 foreign specialists have
been providing advice and technical support to IECI
headquarters and its 1,000 staff members for the
organisation of the referendum.
Specialised assistance has been provided for
information technology management, the drafting of
electoral regulations, polling procedures training,
and activities such as the funding and training of
domestic observers’ networks.
The IECI has hired more than 100,000 polling staff
across the country and has carried out a public
outreach campaign featuring television commercials,
leaflets and education materials. Training of
polling staff has also been undertaken.
"As in any electoral process there are bound to be
some technical problems in some areas of the
country, each of which will be addressed
individually by the competent Iraqi electoral
authorities," Perelli said. "The same case-by-case
approach will be used for any security problems that
arise on polling day."
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