Governing Council, Coalition want U.N. review of elections by June 30

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nation Correspondent

United Nations -- Secretary General Kofi Annan said January 19 that he will begin immediately exploring the possibility of sending a team of U.N. election experts to Iraq to determine the feasibility of holding elections before the June 30 transfer of sovereignty from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to an Iraqi transitional government.
 
After a two-hour meeting among Annan and senior U.N. officials, members of the Iraqi Governing Council, and CPA representatives, Annan said that the proposed technical team would be in addition to the four-person security assessment team which has just gotten permission from the CPA to go into Iraq. Annan said further talks would be needed before he could make a decision.
 
Calling the session "an important opportunity for all of us to get a clearer understanding of each other's positions," the secretary general said that "both the Governing Council and the CPA representatives have expressed a strong wish that the U.N. should quickly send a technical mission to Iraq to advise on the feasibility of elections within the next few months and, if not, what alternatives might be possible."
 
"I think we all agree that elections are going to be necessary, indeed, there is provision for two sets of elections in 2005," he said. "The issue now is whether the technical, political or security conditions exist for general, direct elections to take place as early as May this year."
 
Technical consultations between CPA officials and U.N. election experts were slated to begin in the afternoon January 19.
 
CPA Administrator L. Paul Bremer said that the Governing Council and the coalition encouraged the U.N. to send a technical team to Iraq to examine the process of implementing the November 15 agreement, specifically the question of the feasibility of elections.
 
"We look forward to the secretary general's early decision on that request from the Governing Council," he said.
 
"We are open to clarifications or elaborations on the technique by which the transitional national assembly will be selected as provided in the November 15 agreement," he said.
 
The governing Council and the CPA "will work as closely as we can with them providing them obviously with technical assistance, with security, and arranging for them to meet people . . . whatever assistance they may need," Bremer said.
 
Bremer said that "we had broad agreement on the importance of the U.N. resuming its role in Iraq and we talked about the need to re-establish a partnership with the Iraqis in the political process by which Iraqis will regain their full sovereignty by June 30 this year."
 
Bremer characterized the two-hour meeting as a "good, open, and candid exchange" in the areas of security, economy, and the political process.

"We should all be encouraged by the openness with which the secretary general received this request today," he said.
 
"The Governing Council and the CPA hope the U.N. will return to play a role in Iraq. And we hope that happens soon," Bremer said.
 
The United Nations withdrew from Iraq in August after a suicide bomb attack on U.N. headquarters in Baghdad left 22 dead including U.N. special envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello. The secretary general said that he will take into account the security situation in the country as well as the scope and substance of any U.N. role in determining when to send U.N. international staff back into the country on a permanent basis.
 
In December the secretary general invited the CPA and the Governing Council members for a meeting to get clarity on a possible role for the United Nations in Iraq.
 
Adnan Pachachi, president of the Governing Council, said that "we in Iraq are united on one issue -- that is we shall maintain the deadline of June 30 for the transfer of sovereignty and power to an Iraqi provisional authority."
 
"Another agreement is it is preferable -- if that is possible -- to have elections for the members of the transitional legislative council," Pachachi said. "For that purpose, we have asked the secretary general to send a team to investigate the possibility of elections. If it is not possible, explain why so and explain alternatives."
 
None of the participants said publicly that the request was the result of a demand from Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for direct elections for the provisional government rather than through a series of caucuses as proposed by the CPA. While the meeting was taking place tens of thousands of Shi'ite demonstrated in Baghdad in support of al-Sistani's position.
 
Asked about the demonstrations, Bremer said that "one of the reasons we sent our troops to Iraq was to free them and to allow them to participate in democracy and one of the beauties of democracy is freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. So demonstrations are actually, in my view, a healthy sign. They are peaceful demonstrations."
 
Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, a Governing Council member and ally of al-Sistani, said that "we would like a technical committee to be sent to look into and consider the matter of elections in Iraq. Then this conclusion will be respected by Mr. Sistani."
 
Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, the U.K. representative on the CPA, said that "we are well aware of the experience and expertise which the United Nations can bring to a transition of this kind . . . We in the CPA want the U.N. role to be a very full and independent one in the transitional period and we want a U.N. team to be up and running by the first of July to play that role."
 
"The United Nations can play an impartial, objective overseeing role of the whole transitional process through 2005, including two sets of elections during that year." Greenstock said. "As far as the short term is concerned, the U.K. and the U.S. share the view of the Iraqi Governing Council that it would be a positive move for a U.N. team to come and give advice and guidance on the possibilities for the process in the immediate future."

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