Iraq elections will be tough: spokesman
12/1/2005 15:02
"It is a matter of saving Iraq from dipping into a major constitutional
crisis by holding the elections on Jan. 30 as planned," Fareed Ayar, spokesman
of Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission, said Tuesday.
As the war-scarred
country braces for the first elections after the Iraq War, the technical
electoral body, assigned with a mission to organize the polls, is running
against time to make the elections smooth.
The only way to serve the Iraqi
people and the country is "to try our best to bring forward all the necessary
requirements for the process," Ayar said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua
in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.
FORGING AHEAD WITH LIMITED
TIME
Iraq's interim constitution sets the end of January as the legal
deadline for Iraqis to elect a 275-seat National Assembly that will draft a
constitution and appoint a government to lead the country to general elections
at the end of the year.
"We have exerted every effort to tell Iraqi people
what the elections are all about," Ayar said. "Large numbers of Iraqis are
convinced that would lead the country to more chaos and problems."
Casting a
grim look at the possibility of failing to hold the elections on time, he said,
he tried to paint a rosy picture envisioned by both Iraqi interim government and
the United States.
"Sticking to the timetable would lead Iraq to the right
and safe track as well as a better future," he said.
Prime Minister Ayad
Allawi told a news conference on Tuesday that his government was reaching out to
tribal and religious leaders in some of Iraq's volatile regions in efforts to
get them to take part in the vote.
But luring voters to the polls is no easy
task in places like Baghdad, Mosul and Samarra, which have witnessed frequent
shoot- outs and gunbattles between insurgents and Iraqi-US forces.
Peace and
security top the list of prayers among millions of Iraqis today. Lacking of
security remains a primary concern for both voters and Ayar's
teammates.
However, as calls for a delay out of security consideration pick
up tempo in the run-up to elections, Ayar pointed out that " postponing the
elections is kind of submitting to terrorism."
Constitutional vacuum would
appear if the elections can not take place, which would give way to chaos, he
said.
As a dedicated electoral organizer, Ayar said he is never intimidated
by the murder of his fellow workers for putting up the elections. Three of his
colleagues were dragged out of car in a central Baghdad street last December and
killed in broad daylight.
SUNNI PARTICIPATION IMPORTANT
Sunni clerics have
called for boycotting the elections to protest the US military offensive against
the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. The Iraqi Islamic Party, the
country's largest Sunni party, has pulled out of the race due to the
deteriorating security situation.
Meanwhile, the Shiite-led government, which
is waging a massive pro-election campaign, is aware that a high turnout,
including Sunnis, is the only way in which the vote will be considered fair and
credible.
No elections in Iraq without participation of Sunnis are complete,
said Ayar, noting that the elections are family affairs and everybody is
expected to chip in.
"The Sunni sect is one of the major pillars of this
country ... and I believe that the Sunnis should play one of the major roles in
the building of this country and I wish they would take part in writing the
constitution after the elections," Ayar expressed his hope.
Cautioning Sunnis
against becoming losers in a reshuffle like Maronites in Lebanon after their
boycotting the elections in 1990, Ayar said he hopes Sunnis would not be left in
the cold in the aftermath of a widespread withdrawal from the elections.
"I
don't expect to see a scenario of Sunni marginalization," said Ayar, a former
employee of the state-controlled Iraqi News Agency.
Some European countries
estimate a 40 percent turnout but Ayar expects a higher rate -- 55 percent to 60
percent.
Making no mistake about it, Ayar said, elections are no panacea for
Iraq. He said withdrawal of the multi-national forces is not the immediate
outcome of this elections.
"It is up to the elected government to decide if
their presence is necessary on the Iraqi soil," he said.
Xinhua
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