Iraq's president reignited calls for a delay to the first national elections due in three weeks when he said yesterday that escalating violence would make it difficult to hold a proper vote.
The main Sunni party has withdrawn from the election already while other senior Iraqi officials, including the defence minister and the ambassador to the UN, have publicly suggested a delay.
At a meeting of hundreds of Sunni figures at a large mosque in Baghdad yesterday there were further angry calls for a postponement. This combined force is now putting the January 30 poll in jeopardy.
"On a logical basis, there are signs that it will be a tough call to hold the election," the president, Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar, told Reuters. He said the UN should step in and decide whether it was safe to hold the vote as scheduled.
Guaridian UK