Staggered Elections Plan Backed in Iraq

[maddezmom]

BAGHDAD - Iraq (news - web sites)'s Interior Ministry on Wednesday threw its weight behind a reported suggestion by Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to hold next month's national elections over several days, rather than just one.



But Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission, which has final say over the scheduled Jan. 30 vote, said it was still trying to confirm Allawi's published comments and insisted no official change had been made in the way voting will be held.


Allawi made the proposal in comments published Tuesday in two European newspapers, Belgium's Le Soir and Switzerland's Le Temps. He said Iraq's upcoming vote could be held over two or three weeks across the country to allow security forces to protect polling stations effectively.


"If people have more than one day to vote, then there will be shorter lines and thus there will be less danger and less victims if something bad happens, although we have taken the necessary measures to secure the voting process," Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Khazim said.
more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041208/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_elections&cid=540&ncid=1480

[Englander]

1. The quote at the end of this story says it all....

Farid Ayar, the spokesman of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, said his office hadn't been told of Allawi's idea, adding that it wouldn't be Allawi's decision anyhow.

"We are the ones who set the voting mechanism. We have no information about this suggestion," Ayar said. "We have good relations with Dr. Allawi and we think if he had such an idea he would have proposed it to us before the media."

[maddezmom]

2. he should have, but he didn't....

here's the link from yesterday
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1050968

[Swamp Rat]

3. And if some areas are too dangerous, they will suspend the voting for that

district. In other words, the districts that do vote will support the Bush/Allawi regime, which are of the course the ones they control... Democracy my ass! x(