Shiites want elections

last updated 8 January 2015

Baghdad

A prominent Shiite cleric this week complained that Iraqi parliamentary elections being organized by the U.S. were not democratic enough. Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said the country needed direct elections, not the system of caucuses to choose delegates that the U.S. favors. But the Bush administration said direct elections could not possibly be held by July 1, the target date for handing sovereignty over to a new Iraqi government, because Iraq has never had voter registration or a census, and there is no way to prevent massive election fraud. “There are none of the things that you need to conduct a legitimate and effective election here,” said Paul Bremer, the chief U.S. administrator in Iraq. He said the U.S. would make the caucuses as democratic as possible, but offered no specifics.