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Security Chaos Scares Off Int'l Observers for Iraq Poll
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An Iraqi soldier checks the identity of a motorist at a checkpoint near a polling center in Baghdad's Sadr city. (Reuters).
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BY
Mazen Ghazi, Ahmed Fathy, IOL Correspondents
BAGHDAD,
December 14, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Citing security fears, Iraq's
higher electoral committee said a limited number of international
observers, mainly staffers of foreign embassies will oversee the
voting Thursday, December 15, while the Arab League steered away from
the process altogether.
"Some
200,000 observers, mainly Iraqis, will monitor the election process
nationwide," media advisor for the Independent Electoral
Commission of Iraq (IECI) Farid Ayar told IOL Wednesday, December 14.
"Many
international monitoring organizations refused to send its personnel
to Iraq to oversee the polls out of fear they may be killed or taken
hostage."
"Most
of the foreign observers will be in the northern Kurd areas as the
security situation is relatively better there," he added.
Safwat
Rashid, a member of the IECI Board of Commissioners, which manages the
electoral process, told IOL some 700 to 800 foreign observers, mainly
embassy staffers in Baghdad, will monitor the voting.
Iraqi
voters will Thursday elect a Council of Representatives to a four year
term. There are 307 political entities and 19 coalitions registered to
contest for the 275 seats in the Council of Representatives, a website
of the IECI said.
Iraqi
expatriates in 15 world countries began voting Tuesday, a day after
around 300,000 hospital patients, prison detainees and security forces
cast their ballot at special polling stations across the country.
Five
main coalition lists based largely on sectarian or ethnic lines are
dominating the election campaign across Iraq.
US,
EU Monitoring
On
the US role in the polls, a source at the US embassy in Baghdad's
heavily guarded Green Zone, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told
IOL a number of embassy staffers, officials from National Democratic
Institute (NDI) of former state secretary Madeleine K. Albright, will
oversee the voting.
The
monitoring will be only outside the voting centers in the capital
city, the source added, citing security reasons.
The
European Union has said it backtracked on sending a limited delegation
of observers to monitor the elections in Iraq "for security
concerns".
Members
of such a delegation needed special training before working in
dangerous areas, a precondition which could not be met, the EU said in
a statement Monday.
Meantime,
Iraqi Election Information Network Iraqi Ein said it has provided
training for 600 trainers to study the new election law in Iraq in a
program supervised by the EU abroad.
The
trainers, in turn, trained the local Iraqi election observers, 22, to
30 each.
Arab
League not Invited
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Life in Baghdad came to a halt, a day before the polls.
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For
its part, the Arab League (AL) ruled out it had any intention to send
observers to the Iraqi elections.
"We
will not send observers as we did not receive any request to this
effect," AL deputy secretary general Ahmed bin Helli told IOL
Tuesday.
The
pan-Arab group will instead coordinate with observers sent by the UN
from a number of countries to monitor the Iraqi elections, according
to the Arab diplomat.
"We
hope the election will be free and transparent to reflect the real
aspiration of the Iraqis," he said.
Iraq's
15.5 million voters are electing their first full-term legislature
since the ouster of Saddam Hussein's regime by US-led occupation
forces in April 2003.
The
parliament will in turn form a full-term, four-year government.
This
will be the third time this year that Iraqis have gone to the polls.
On January 30, 2005, Iraqis elected a Transitional National Assembly.
One of the responsibilities for the Assembly was to write a draft
constitution of Iraq.
Iran-made
Ballot Papers
On
the ground, hundreds of thousands of blank ballots like those to be
used in this week's Iraqi elections have been found on a tanker truck
which entered the country from neighboring Iran, security officials
told AFP Tuesday.
"A
truck with Iranian number plates was intercepted Tuesday night in the
locality of Badra, Wasset province, southeast of Baghdad," an
official said.
Another
security source confirmed the discovery and said authorities were
looking for three other suspect trucks in areas east of Baghdad near
the Iranian border.
"The
blank ballots were probably destined to stuff the ballot boxes"
in Thursday's general election, a security official said.
The
ballot papers were not printed by the Iraqi Electoral Commission which
is the only body authorized to supply voting materials.
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