Posted on 12/23/2004 5:58:25 PM PST by NormsRevenge
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Most international experts assessing the fairness of Iraq's elections will monitor the Jan. 30 vote from the safety of neighboring Jordan, but a few observers will head to Baghdad and perhaps other Iraqi cities if security permits, U.N. and other officials said Thursday.
Experts putting together the international team made clear it will not conduct the usual on-the-ground election monitoring with hundreds of foreign observers in Iraq such as was recently seen in Afghanistan. Instead, it will be assessing the vote based on more than a dozen different criteria.
"We believe we can run a very effective operation to assess how well-run the election was even if there are not huge numbers of electoral observers on the ground," said Canada's chief electoral officer, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, who hosted a meeting in Ottawa this week of international election experts to discuss the Iraqi election.
The countries agreeing to participate in the International Mission for Iraqi Elections include Albania, Britain, Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, Yemen, and the Association of Central and East European electoral administrators, Kingsley said Thursday.
Australia also will participate, U.N. and other officials said on condition of anonymity.
Most foreign experts will be based in Amman, Jordan, the officials said, but the international mission will have high-level staff in Baghdad who will be in contact with all the key players in the Jan. 30 election - including the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq overseeing the vote, political parties, the government, civil society groups and Iraqi election observers.
Kingsley refused to provide any details about the international mission's deployment.
"We will be very careful deploying people in known hazardous situations," he said. "We have not ruled out going into Iraq or parts of Iraq."
Assessing an election required much more than being on the ground on election day, Kingsley said.
"We're talking here about an (Iraqi) electoral commission that is known to be independent, that is well-oriented, that has support from U.N. personnel on the ground," he said. "This is very different than when you have a suspect electoral body."
The United Nations continues to appeal for international observers since it cannot determine the fairness of an election it helped organize.
"The presence of international observers adds an extra layer of credibility to any electoral process," U.N. election chief Carina Perelli said. "Therefore, what we can do is urge, call for, and plead for international groups to come to the fore.
"We not only welcome the Canadian effort but we urge other groups to come to the front and to send observers to this process."
The Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe said Wednesday it will not send observers to Iraq, and the European Union also reportedly opted out.
The United Nations has helped train Iraqi election observers, who will likely be key to assessing the vote.
Iraqi nongovernmental organizations aim to have 10,000 national observers, who would be deployed at between 7,000 and 9,000 polling stations, the officials said.
The International Organization of Migration, which is not a U.N. agency, is organizing voting for Iraqis living abroad.
The United Nations said registration for overseas Iraqi voters was expected to occur Jan. 17-23, though officials said agreements have not yet been signed with all 14 countries where voting is expected to take place.
Countries participating in the International Mission will meet again in early January to take stock of the situation in Iraq, Kingsley said.
What a joke! These cowards need to just go home, they are useless as t*ts on a boar.
Why not do it from a sports bar in Pittsburgh?
Because they might encounter caroling or a sign that read "Merry Christmas"...
Didn't you note that they avoid hostile environments?
Jordan doesn't have enough five star hotels for a UN delegation like this. Some of them will have to resort to mere four star or even three star accomodations. Oh, the humanity!
Chicken$&its!!!
I say we send over sheilajacksonlee/puckschumer/hitlery/fineswine/boxerbrief/mcCAiNtdecide whatpartyIbelongto VIA air drop over Bagdad with a ONE way ticket.
BTW- Merry Christmas to You and the Family
or lips on a chicken...
As long as they get the playoffs , sounds good to me.
Time for Jordan's best hotels to pre-order lobster, caviar, Champaign and call girls (boys too) for this UN crew
Merry Christmas to you and WCG and Jack. :)
It was all caused by Bush's lack of planning of course. He never even considered the effects of the diplomacy around the Iraq war on prostitution, caviar, or even on five star hotels! There's no excuse for the richest country in the history of the world not to have assured these simple neccessities of world peace first before making any moves.
UN at its best.
What a bunch of P____y's where's your cahones. Sit in a hotel in Jordan and monitor the election, my ass.If this is the best the UN can offer they might as well stay home.
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