{"id":381,"date":"2004-11-27T16:30:56","date_gmt":"2004-11-27T22:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=381"},"modified":"2004-11-27T16:31:10","modified_gmt":"2004-11-27T22:31:10","slug":"allawi-shias-no-delay-on-iraq-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/?p=381","title":{"rendered":"Allawi, Shias: No Delay on Iraq Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite yesterday’s petition for delay, Iraqi officials are insisting that the January 30 balloting for the 275-member National Assembly should proceed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Iraq\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main Shia parties insisted today that elections should go ahead on January 30 as planned, rejecting mounting calls from Sunni and secular politicians to postpone the polls because of guerrilla violence.<\/p>\n

The dispute threatens to widen sectarian divisions in a country already racked by lawlessness and widespread unrest. A statement by 42 Shia and Turkmen parties, including the influential Dawa Party and Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), said a postponement would be illegal.<\/p>\n

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said if the election was postponed, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this would mean that the terrorists have been able to achieve one of their main objectives\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

The Shia statement followed a petition yesterday by 17 Sunni and secular groups for a delay of up to six months to ensure the broadest possible participation in the elections.<\/p>\n

The parties that backed the petition drawn up after a meeting yesterday at the house of elder statesman Adnan Pachachi included the Iraqi National Accord of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and the two main Kurdish parties.<\/p>\n

Allawi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spokesman said today the Prime Minister took very seriously his obligation to hold elections by the end of January, as mandated by Iraq\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interim constitution and a UN Security Council resolution. But the statement left open the possibility of a postponement.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Prime Minister is aware of the statement made by some parties yesterday, calling for a delay in holding elections,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d spokesman Thaer al-Naqib said. The statement said Allawi believed \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the key to a building real and lasting democracy and stability in Iraq is ensuring all Iraqi citizens can vote\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. It added that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153he does not believe that a delay will necessarily make such broad participation any easier to achieve\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I agree with Abdul Aziz al-Hakim’s statement that a delay would appear a victory for the terrorists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite yesterday’s petition for delay, Iraqi officials are insisting that the January 30 balloting for the 275-member National Assembly should proceed. Iraq\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main Shia parties insisted today that elections should go ahead on January 30 as planned, rejecting mounting calls from Sunni and secular politicians to postpone the polls because of guerrilla violence. The dispute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-middle-east","category-war-on-terror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}