IRAQ: United Nations officials said yesterday that elections in Iraq were unlikely before a handover of power on June 30th, writes Jack Fairweather in Baghdad
"The time between now and June is very short, and that makes it unlikely that you can put mechanisms in place," a UN spokesman, Mr Ahmad Fawzi, said. "The elections don't have to happen before then."
A UN team headed by Mr Lakdhar Brahimi has been in Iraq to discuss the feasibility of an early ballot following demands by Iraq's senior Shia cleric for summer elections.
The US-led administration in Iraq insists there is not enough time to prepare for elections and wants to stick to plans to appoint the country's first sovereign government. The UN team was sent in to resolve the crisis that has brought Iraq's political process to a standstill.
Speaking in Baghdad yesterday, Mr Brahimi said Iraq's leaders understood the importance of elections but did not say when they might be held.
"The Iraqi street must know that elections are a very complicated process and cannot be achieved unless there are good preparations so that everyone accepts the results," he said.
Mr Brahimi said he would submit his recommendations to the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, in about a week or 10 days, so he can determine how best the UN can help in organising the elections.
On Thursday Mr Brahimi met Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the cleric opposing US plans, to explain the UN view that a legal framework for elections and a register of voters must be in place before any poll can be held.
Ayatollah al-Sistani's aides have said he is amenable to the UN's recommendations, but also warn that massive protests like those staged last month in support of the ayatollah are likely if the interests of majority Shia community are not respected.
Shia took to the streets, prompting the US administrator, Mr Paul Bremer, to fly to New York to ask the UN to intervene.
Mr Bremer made a similar trip to Washington in November after the ayatollah signalled his displeasure at plans to appoint a constitution-drafting body.
The outcome of November consultations at the White House was a plan to use a series of regional caucuses to select an Iraqi government, which in turn would draft a constitution, with elections postponed until at least the end of 2005.
The lack of an electoral register and continuing instability in the country - highlighted this week by two devastating suicide bombings killing over 100 people - were cited as the reasons for delaying elections. Washington has warned that more attacks are likely as the June handover deadline approaches.
Yesterday's statement by the UN that elections are untenable by June 30th, has, however, done little to bolster US plans. In recent weeks support for the proposals has dwindled among Iraq's Governing Council. "No one in Iraq wants the caucus system. We're looking at holding a quick election after the transfer of power," one senior Iraqi official said.
Instead the council favours creating an expanded body to guide the country to elections early in the new year, a plan the UN team is also understood to be considering.
A change of plan by Iraq's administration would be embarrassing but may find favour with a Bush administration eager to end the formal occupation of Iraq and hand over security to Iraqis well before the November US presidential elections.
A senior official said: "Of course, we'd like to stick to our original plans for regional caucuses, but it's up to the Iraqi people to decide."