Evelyn Leopold • Reuters  --  Arab News

UNITED NATIONS, 24 February 2004 — UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday that elections in Iraq could not take place until late this year or early next year and are dependent on Iraqis enacting an election law, among other things.

In a report to the UN Security Council, Annan said elections could be held by the end of 2004 if preparations for a “legal and institutional framework” began immediately. But he said it was more likely that elections could not be held until 2005.

“If the work was started immediately and the required political consensus was reached fairly rapidly, it would be possible to hold elections by the end of 2004,” Annan said in the report. “At least eight months are required to prepare a credible election in Iraq, once the legal framework is agreed upon.”

Annan’s report was issued after the visit to Iraq earlier this month of an electoral team headed by his senior adviser Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister.

Annan said again the US handover of political power should take place as the United States wanted, on June 30. He did not make a recommendation for how Iraq would select a provisional government once the US-led occupation ended on June 30. But he listed a series of options that came up during the mission’s stay in Iraq. UN officials said it was likely Brahimi would go to Iraq next month for another visit and help mediate a formula if the Iraqis and the US-led coalition do not produce one.

The Bush administration, which is trying to re-engage the United Nations in efforts to stabilize the country, had asked the world body to come up with proposals for Iraq’s political future before and after the June 30 transfer of power. Original US plans for the handover, which involved regional caucuses choosing an assembly that would select a government, were derailed after a leading Iraqi Shiite cleric demanded early direct elections.