UNAMI official calls on Iraqi forces not to interfere in election process

Iraq-UNAMI BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The UNAMI chief for elections team helping Iraqis called on the high security committee of elections not to interfere in the coming elections to facilitate the supervisors’ mission. “We still have 57 days before the elections and the security committee have to secure the Iraqi voters and poll stations and to order the security forces not to interfere in the elections process,” Sandra Michel told IraqiNews.com. She demanded the Iraqi security forces to facilitate the elections supervisors who will hold special badges. On September 24, the Iraqi Parliament approved a long-delayed law to allow provincial elections to go ahead, but lawmakers scrapped a key clause that would have guaranteed seats for Christians and other minorities. Iraq’s Parliament has set a January 31 deadline for elections in 14 provinces, excluding the three Kurdish provinces and the disputed oil-rich province of Kirkuk. Leaders of Iraq’s minority’s communities claimed the law did not provide for their representation in the councils that would be formed after the vote. SH (P)/SR 1