PRESS BRIEFING ON IRAQ FACT-FINDING MISSION

Press Briefing by director, electoral assistance division

Elections should not be seen as “silver bullets that cured all ills”, Carina Perelli, Director of the Electoral Assistance Division of the Department of Political Affairs, said at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

Nevertheless, they were an essential step on the path to a peaceful and stable Iraq.  Therefore, the United Nations was playing an active role in ensuring that free and fair elections, called for by the Transitional Administrative Law, would take place no later than 31 January.  In that context, she informed correspondents that she had just headed a mission to Iraq.  Among other things, the mission had been dedicated to assessing electoral needs, helping to determine who could organize and participate in elections, and determining what the units of representation would be.  In connection with the Transitional Administrative Law, three elections were planned for 31 January.  Those would determine the makeup of the Governorate Councils, the national assembly of Kurdistan, and the national assembly of Iraq as a whole.

Her mission had determined that a solid electoral institution, characterized by credibility and integrity, needed to be created.  The creation of that politically and financially autonomous body, whose decisions would only be able to be challenged by the Iraqi Supreme Court, would be unprecedented in Iraq.  As the new institution would be granted so much power, she called for much international assistance in the area of capacity-building.  She added that members of the organ’s Board of Commissioners should not belong to any political parties, and like judges around the world, should display no overt political sympathies.

United Nations recommendations regarding elections had been unanimously accepted by the Coalition Provisional Authority, as well as the Iraqi Governing Council, which had recently created an electoral committee, she said.  Those recommendations had called for the new electoral institution to be headed by seven commissioners and a director-general of elections.  There would also be provincial directors of elections in the governorates, except in Kurdistan, where there would be one regional director and three deputy directors.

Her division had also advised that the institution should be seen as independent and a product of the Iraqi people.  Therefore, rather than the United Nations or the Coalition Provisional Authority proposing members for the new body, Iraqis should decide.  She added that, currently, candidates could be nominated through forms found on the following Web site:  www.electionsiraq.org.  The United Nations would follow up with a technical evaluation of the candidates.  Her division had also recommended the presence of an international commissioner appointed by the United Nations.  Nevertheless, that official’s voice should not be accompanied by any voting power.

Because of security conditions, the United Nations would have to rely on the Coalition Provisional Authority during election processes.  Presently, the United Nations already had an auditing and monitoring team on the ground.  That team would ensure that the electoral process remained free and fair, she said.

Asked if the United Nations would approve the list of candidates for the electoral institution, she said the candidates, who could be nominated by anyone, would have to fill out the requisite forms and provide character references. After evaluating the applications, the United Nations would then establish a short list of people for well-known representatives of the international community to interview.  By end of May, the members of the electoral institution and the United Nations commissioner would be in place.

Fielding a question about how political the electoral body’s members could be, she said that, in Iraq, there were currently many harsh sentiments against political parties in general.  Therefore, ideally, non-partisan people, who were trusted by Iraqis, would be chosen.  She acknowledged, however, that it would be quite difficult to find non-political candidates to fill these positions.  Thus, a condition would be set forth that prevented commissioners from belonging to political parties during their terms of office.  It would not matter if they had had party affiliations in the past.

Asked if elections could be held today, in light of the changing security situation, she said no.  After all, eight months were required just for technical preparations, including security.  She stressed, however, that elections were not feasible because there was no electoral framework in place, not because of security concerns.

When one correspondent asked if Iraqis seemed to favour ethno-religious quotas in the electoral institution, she responded that people felt they had to act now in order to secure their communities’ interests.  To combat that sentiment, and its accompanied identity politics, more dialogue and civic education would need to be promoted.

Asked who would monitor the elections, she drew attention to last year’s General Assembly resolution, which codified the United Nations practice of not observing elections, if it had already provided electoral assistance.  In the case of Iraq, the United Nations would not be observing elections because it would be improper to essentially evaluate its own work.  Thus, international or credible national actors would have to perform that task.

Questioned about the resources needed for the electoral process, she said the cost of the January election was estimated at $250-260 million.  That included monitoring the elections and salaries for electoral officials.  It did not, however, include out-of-country voting.  Thus, it was hard to determine a specific figure at this point in time.

Asked whether her division was on track, she insisted that, security issues aside, it was “better than on track”.  All agreements were in place to have a regulatory framework by 31 May.

Before concluding, she added that, if the security situation did not improve, the United Nations would not participate in “Mickey Mouse elections”.  In other words, the elections had to be seen by the Iraqis as fair.  Violence during the process had to be minimized, and candidates should not be intimidated.

* *** *