Interim Iraqi President Ghazi al- Yawar said in Paris Thursday that the Iraqi general elections, scheduled for Jan. 30, should take place as scheduled and called on all Iraqis to do their duty in the elections.
"These elections will be 100 percent free and honest," Yawar told reporters after talks with French President Jacques Chirac.
"We are now in the middle of a political process that we are determined in Iraq to see succeed, and to include all Iraqis who do not condone violence" as a means of political action, he added.
"The multinational forces are there. They are in the process of helping to restore security in Iraq. They were invited by the Iraqi government and they will leave when we have the security forces capable of re-establishing security across all of Iraq," Yawar told reporters.
To the question on maintaining foreign bases in Iraq, notably American ones, Yawar answered: "The decision is not in the hands of an interim government, but is rather a decision for an elected government chosen by the Iraqi people."
Yawar expressed his hope that there would be a participation and representativity as large as possible in these elections.