Iraqi President Mr Ghazi al-Yawar said today that elections should go ahead on January 30th as scheduled, despite calls from other leading Sunni Arab politicians to delay the vote.
Mr al-Yawar pointed out Iraq's interim constitution obligated the government to hold an election by the end of January. "We must go ahead with elections, from a legal and a moral point of view," he said. "These elections have been planned for eight months...it's my personal view they should go ahead on time."
Leading Sunni parties and religious bodies have demanded the polls be postponed by up to six months, claiming that guerrilla violence in Iraq's Sunni heartlands will prevent the 20 percent Sunni Arab minority from participating freely in the poll. Several Sunni parties say they will boycott the election unless a postponement is agreed. But the 60 percent Shia majority is demanding that the polls go ahead on time.
Mr al-Yawar, who was chosen for the largely symbolic post of president in June, also said he had launched a new political party to compete in the elections. "I don't want to be a selected president, I want to see how popular I am in the political arena."
PA