IRAQ: Iraqi election officials have announced that the first democratic elections in decades will be held in less than 10 weeks, despite the relentless violence of the guerrilla insurgency, writes Rory McCarthy in Baghdad.
The decision, taken yesterday by the independent electoral commission of Iraq, reflects a determination in Washington and London to press ahead with the political process, however fragile, in the hope it will eventually resolve the security crisis.
"Of course there is a difficult security situation," Adil al-Lami, the chief electoral officer at the commission, said, "but we took a decision that the date will be January 30th and there will be no change to that, I hope."
Although the Shia political parties, which are certain to dominate the new government, are pushing hard for the vote to go ahead on time, there have been public acknowledgments from senior figures in the Iraqi government that violence may yet force a delay. In the end the decision will rest with Mr Iyad Allawi, the US-appointed interim prime minister.
When the polls are held in January, Iraqis will be choosing candidates for a 275-seat national assembly as well as 18 provincial councils and, in the north, the Kurdish regional assembly.
Already 198 political parties and individuals have put themselves forward for the national assembly and so far 162 have been approved. Iraq will be regarded as a single nationwide constituency, which will mean that even if violence mars voting in some towns in the troubled Sunni regions, the overall vote can go ahead.
The commission is forecasting a turnout of 7 million to 8 million, out of 14 million eligible voters. They will be confronted with a large list of candidates and there may well be considerable confusion.
Although Saddam Hussein had tightly controlled elections for a national council in the 1980s, there have not been free elections in Iraq since the monarchy. In his later years, Saddam preferred a simple, if farcical, referendum.
In the last such vote, in October 2002, his regime declared a 100 per cent turnout and a 100 per cent yes vote for the president.
Violent clashes across the country yesterday continued to cast a shadow over the planned elections.
In the northern city of Mosul, the bodies of at least 12 Iraqi policemen and soldiers were found dumped in the street in the past two days. All had been shot in the back of the head. Since the US assault on Falluja two weeks ago, there has been a sudden flare-up of violence in Mosul, with police stations under attack. Four headless corpses were found in the city last week.
There were clashes in Adhamiya, a northern Sunni suburb of Baghdad on Saturday, when gunmen attacked a US patrol and fired on a police station. At least one American soldier and three Iraqi policemen were killed.
The attack may have been in retaliation for a raid on the main mosque in the area just after Friday prayers, in which at least four people died.
In Ramadi, west of Falluja, the police chief said seven people were killed when US soldiers opened fired on a civilian bus. The US military said the vehicle had failed to stop at a checkpoint. Television footage showed the bus riddled with bullets and soaked in blood. The bodies of several of the dead were being carried away by neighbours.
South of Baghdad, in the predominantly Shia city of Hilla, the police chief survived an assassination attempt when a suicide car bomber tried to ram his convoy. The bomber detonated his car before hitting the police vehicle.
Violence has spread from the troubled Sunni regions into areas south of Baghdad. An Iraqi reporter working for Reuters yesterday described how he watched as insurgents set up a checkpoint near Latifiya, south of the capital
The gunmen stopped the car just in front of the reporter and hauled out three men dressed in civilian clothes. In the boot of the car they found their police and National Guard uniforms.
"Take them over there and kill them," said the lead gunman.
The men's hands were tied behind their backs, they were lined up by the side of the road and shot in the chest while the engine of their car was still running.