Annan rules out Iraqi election before power transfer

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today came out against holding elections in Iraq before the June 30 transfer of power to Iraqis, but made no suggestions on how to form a transitional government.

He stressed, however, that the June 30 date for the US led coalition to restore sovereignty to Iraq must be respected.

Paul Bremer, the US administrator in Iraq, said earlier today that changes are possible in the formula for establishing a new Iraqi government, but that the date for the coalition to hand over power remains firm.

Annan and his special adviser, Lakhdar Brahimi, spoke at UN headquarters in New York after a 90 minute meeting with representatives of 45 nations and the EU where Brahimi gave a briefing on his week-long visit to Iraq.

“We shared with them our sense, and the emerging consensus, or understanding that elections cannot be held before the end of June, that the June 30 date for the hand over of sovereignty must be respected, and that we need to find a mechanism to create a caretaker government and then prepare the elections later, sometime later in the future,” Annan said.

The coalition and the Iraqi Governing Council asked the United Nations to send a team to Iraq to help resolve an argument between the US administration and a Shiite spiritual leader on transferring power to Iraqis by the end of June.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani has called for direct elections before a transfer of power, arguing that a government based on caucuses would be “illegitimate”.

The United States has argued that security concerns and lack of preparations make quick elections impossible.