PARIS, 26 October 2004 — France said yesterday that Iraqi elections scheduled for January will be difficult to organize but everything must be done to ensure they take place on time.
Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told LCI television it was important to broaden the political process to include all groups that turned their backs on violence. But he said France, which led international opposition to the US-led war in Iraq, would attend next month’s conference on Iraq’s future with no preconditions. “I think we have to keep the prospect of elections because it’s an indispensable stage for democracy in Iraq,” Barnier said.
In a reference to the deepening insurgency against US-led forces in Iraq, he said it would be “difficult” to stick to the January 2005 timetable. “But we think that everything should be done for them to go ahead as planned,” Barnier added.
