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| Iraq-Jordan | |
| Iraq polls in last week of January | |
| 2004-11-04 | |
| BAGHDAD — Iraq's parliamentary elections will take place in the last week of January, the body organising the poll said yesterday, despite relentless bombings and kidnappings. "We, the Commission, have not fixed the date yet," Iraqi Independent Electoral Commission spokesman Farid Ayar told Reuters. "But the election day will be in the last week of January 2005." Iraqis are due to elect a 275-seat parliament by the end of January that will draft a permanent constitution to govern Iraq after US-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein last year. The nine-member commission was charged in June with preparing for the poll, which it hopes will allow Iraqis to choose their leaders freely for the first time in decades. Ayar said the commission, which began the monumental task of registering voters on Nov. 1, still had time to set the exact election date, but it would precede the Jan. 31 deadline set by the country's provisional constitution drawn up this year. Ayar said the first few days of voter registration, which is based on Iraq's existing household ration lists, was going well. "They are coming to register," Ayar said. "Families are coming to the centres to get their November rations, where they get a form on which to correct any details that need changing." Voter registration ends on Dec. 15, he said. Each party entering the election must present a list with a minimum of 12 candidates and a maximum of 275. On Election Day, the United Nations has estimated there should be between 7,000 and 9,000 polling centres across Iraq.ÂÂ
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| Posted by:Steve White |