Iraq Press Roundup

IHEC highlights changes in voting procedures

Iraqi elections officials made changes to the voting process to protect against voter fraud and provide security during the Jan. 31 elections, the Sunni al-Mashriq newspaper reported Friday.

The Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq said it enacted "tough measures" to prevent voter fraud in the provincial elections.

Hamdiya al-Husseini, a member of IHEC, said voters in the past were able to vote two or three times, but new procedures would require voters to sign in at their designated polling stations to avoid multiple voting.

She said the commission would reject the results at polling stations that had 5 percent or more ballots than the number of signatures, adding this was not an option in the 2005 elections as security was the top priority then.

Iraqi security officials, meanwhile, said there will be special police escorts for the candidates running in Mosul as several candidates were assassinated in recent weeks.

Iraq holds provincial elections in 14 of the 18 provinces, as the vote is delayed in Kirkuk and the three Kurdish provinces – Erbil, Dahuk and Sulaimaniya.

IHEC said there are 6,500 polling stations in the country that will be manned by some 40,000 observers.

There are 14,460 candidates competing for 440 seats in the provincial councils.

Maliki questions candidate's credentials

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused top election officials of not adequately vetting the credentials of provincial council candidates, the independent al-Mada reported Friday.

Maliki spent the week canvassing Iraq, calling for active participation in the Jan. 31 elections, making a special appeal to women voters.

He accused top officials with the Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq, however, of failing to check the credentials of candidates, adding several false certifications were submitted recently.

The prime minister said through his aides that though IHEC had validated candidate certificates, there was no scrutiny in that process.

Following meetings with tribal leaders in Baghdad, the Iraqi premier said the spate of assassinations and terrorist activity in the country would not foil high levels of anticipated voter turnout.

The government-supported National Media Center said it expected nearly three-quarters of the eligible voting population to take part in the Jan. 31 elections.

Talabani briefs Hakim on Kuwaiti relations

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani met with a top Shiite leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, at his offices in Baghdad to discuss Kuwaiti relations, al-Ittihad of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan reported Friday.

Talabani, the Kurdish head of the PUK, met with Hakim, who heads the Shiite Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council and the United Iraqi Alliance bloc, to discuss establishing stronger ties with regional leaders.

Talabani briefed the ailing cleric, who is afflicted with lung cancer, on an Arab summit in Kuwait to bolster support for the Palestinian people in the wake of the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip.

Both officials also discussed the need to work toward stronger bilateral relations with Kuwait and the importance of consolidating regional efforts.

Talabani met with Kuwaiti officials Monday to secure agreements to form a committee to resolve outstanding issues between the two countries.

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(Edited by Daniel Graeber)