BAGHDAD, 6 January 2005 — Iraq’s Prime Minister Iyad Allawi insisted yesterday that holding elections on time on Jan. 30 was crucial to defeating the insurgency and quelling the unrelenting violence.
“The violence, terrorists and the outlaws will not be allowed to stop the political process and destroy the country,” he told reporters in Baghdad.
“The Iraqi government and myself personally urge Iraqis to vote and participate in the political process.”
Allawi warned those that have said that they would boycott the elections would increase violence by their lack of participation.
“Elections will play a big role in calming the situation and enable the next government to face the upcoming challenges in a decisive manner,” he said.
“I am in talks with all parties, including those that said they would boycott the elections, to urge them to take part.”
Several Sunni political and religious groups have said they would not take part in the legislative vote.
Blair ‘Committed’ to Jan. 30
Election Date
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday he was “committed” to the Jan. 30 date for elections in Iraq.
“I am committed to it because I think it is extremely important that the terrorists don’t gain a victory,” Blair told the BBC.
Blair said “whatever the original conflict and the removal of Saddam...nobody in Iraq wants Saddam back. The vast majority of Iraqis want to participate in these elections,” he added.
Blair said the conflict now was about “a group of terrorists and insurgents who want to stop the Iraqi people having a democratic say.”
“Surely our attitude has got to be to defeat them,” Blair said. He added that “establishing democracy” in Afghanistan had been a “huge blow against this worldwide terrorism” and that establishing democracy in Iraq would be a further blow.
Iraq Neighbors Conference to Support Vote
Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki said yesterday a conference in Amman of Iraq’s six neighbors will aim to back “appropriate and transparent” elections in Iraq later this month.
“Our intention is to give full support to the Iraqi interim government to be able to hold elections in the most appropriate and transparent way, and to make sure the elections include all Iraqis,” Mulki told AFP yesterday.
Mulki said the gathering is aimed at “supporting the Iraqis to move ahead with the democratic process and hold elections.”
The meeting will be attended by the foreign ministers of Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Iran is sending a lower-level delegation.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi is boycotting the meeting following accusations by Jordan’s King Abdallah II last month that Tehran was trying to influence the Iraqi elections in a bid to create a Shiite-dominated “crescent” extending from Iraq to Lebanon.
Aides to the officials of Iraq and its six neighbors were due to meet at the Jordanian Foreign Ministry yesterday evening to prepare for the conference.
Only UN Can Change Iraqi Election Date
Only the UN Security Council is authorized to delay the Jan. 30 date for Iraqi elections, Kuwait’s foreign minister said yesterday, hoping that all groups in the war-ravaged country will take part.
“There is an international resolution that determines the Iraqi political map and we support this resolution,” Sheikh Mohammed Al-Sabah told reporters before leaving for Jordan to attend a meeting of Iraq’s neighbors.
“But if there is any desire to redraw the map, it must be done by the side which originally issued it...the Security Council,” he said when asked about calls to delay the vote.
“It would undoubtedly be regrettable to see any group boycotting...We always hope that all will participate in these polls,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Al-Shaalan said Monday that elections could be delayed if the Sunni Muslim community agreed to take part. But the United States, Britain and other senior Iraqi officials have stressed elections will not be delayed.
Iraqis are to vote for a 275-member national assembly that would draft a constitution to replace the country’s interim law passed by the now defunct US-led occupation authority.
