June 4, 2004

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAGHDAD, Iraq-- A U.N. advisory team has selected an eight-member independent electoral commission and adopted voting rules in the first major step toward national elections due by Jan. 31, a U.N. official said Friday.

The United Nations said a commission would have to be established and rules issued this month if elections are to be held by the end of January as provided for under the U.S. blueprint for handing over power to the Iraqis.

Carina Perelli, U.N. elections chief, described the commission as "well-balanced," despite organizational problems posed by the deteriorating security situation.

The eight are Abdul-Hussein al Hindawi, Fareed Michael, Hamdi Abbas al-Husseini, Ibrahim Ali Ali, Izzadine Mohammed Shafiq, Mustafa Safwat Rashid, Mohammed al-Jabouri, and the chairman, Mohammed Allami. The were chosen from across the country, but none is widely known.

The commission will be charged with registering voters, setting up polling places and other infrastructure, and hiring and training election employees-- including some 130,000 poll workers. It will also draw up some political party rules and educate Iraqis about the voting.

Violence made it impossible to screen applicants for the commission in some parts of the country such as Fallujah, a Sunni Muslim stronghold west of Baghdad, and four Shiite Muslim provinces in southern Iraq, where a radical militia has been active-- Kut, Diwaniyah, Karbala and Najaf.

Perelli said the commission will be totally independent, politically and financially, because it would steer the electoral process for a two-year transition.

The U.N. team also decided that a system of proportional representation with the whole country as single electoral unit would best suit Iraq's present circumstances.

Anyone may run in the elections after collecting 500 signatures of voters supporting his or her candidacy.

To ensure women make up a quarter of Iraq's future parliament, parties must the name of a woman in every third place on the candidate list.

The U.S.-led coalition authority in Iraq has already set aside an estimated $250-$260 million for the January elections. Iraqis will later have to decide on a presidential or parliamentary system of government.

The U.N. team, under special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, is working at the request of the U.S.-led occupation administration to prepare Iraq for the huge task of building elections infrastructure from scratch.

Iraq still has no laws governing who can vote or run for office, no polling stations or even poll workers.

Perelli said she expected about 30,000 polling stations would be needed in Iraq.

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