Iraq ready for March 7 general elections, UN says

New York - Iraq is completing preparations for general elections next month in which close to 19 million Iraqis will cast ballots under the watchful eyes of national as well as international observers, a UN official said Tuesday. Ed Melkert, the UN special envoy for Iraq, told the UN Security Council in New York that the UN electoral team is providing support to the country's Independent High Electoral Commission to ready up the holding of the elections.

"As a result of a huge collective effort, the infrastructure is in place in order to allow approximatively 18.9 million Iraqi voters to visit 48,000 polling stations on election day," Melkert said.

He said preparations were underway to allow Iraqis living in 16 countries to also vote. Those countries include Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United States.

Melkert called on Iraqi parties to accept results of the elections, which he said will be the "litmus test for the success or failure of the (democratic) process" as Baghdad has taken over its sovereign rights in running the country.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/309560,iraq-ready-for-march-7-general-elections-un-says.html.