Monitors too scared to visit Iraq polls

With an expected turnout of only one third of voters, Iraq faces a string of problems. There has been no campaigning because of security fears - so most candidates are anonymous - and the location of polling stations is being kept secret until the last minute, meaning voters are unlikely to know where to go. Now the Evening Standard has learned that international election monitors are so fearful of their safety most will not even be in the country they are meant to be scrutinising. The men and women of the International Mission for Iraqi Elections (IMIE) will not be visiting a single Iraqi polling station, nor meeting a single Iraqi voter. They will pronounce on the election's freedom and fairness from a five-star hotel in Amman, capital of neighbouring Jordan, nearly 1,000 miles west of Baghdad. International observers are considered vital in all countries moving from tyranny to free voting. In Ukraine, they helped alert the world when the ruling party tried to steal the election. Earlier this month, 800 international monitors scrutinised the election of a successor to Yasser Arafat as Palestinian president. In Afghanistan 120 international observers were deployed, adding to that poll's credibility. But Iraq is so dangerous for foreigners that of the 50 or so IMIE staff, only three will be in the country on polling day. [more]

• Iraqi minister fears fraud in landmark elections. Iraqi Finance Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi, a leading candidate on the front-running Shiite Muslim list for the January 30 elections, says he fears the milestone polls could be marred by fraud. "We cannot go to all the regions in Iraq to monitor (the voting), and we are seriously afraid that fraud might take place," he told reporters, with less than a week to go before what are being hailed as the first free elections in half a century. He says the lack of monitors stemming from the security threat in restive Sunni provinces "could allow some people to rig the ballots and illegally sign the names of voters". "We should not allow any room for such fraud and the electoral commission and other observers should adopt the principle of transparency," Abdel Mahdi said. "Anyone who rigs these elections will destroy the whole experience." [more] Tell me about it Abdel.
  
• Saboteurs Target Iraq's Power and Water Supplies. A surge in attacks in recent weeks on Iraq's infrastructure, accidents and fires at power plants and bad weather have smashed hopes of improved power and water before Sunday's election, say senior U.S. officials. After Saddam Hussein's ouster in April 2003, the United States promised to overhaul Iraq's dilapidated power and water systems and poured billions of dollars into these projects in the hope it would, among other goals, boost Iraqi confidence in their new political system. Nearly two years on, Iraqis complain the national power grid is off more than it is on and the lack of reliable, clean water has made daily living a challenge for many. "The insurgents have conducted a fairly sophisticated, apparently well thought-out campaign against infrastructure, particularly around Baghdad --- oil, electricity and water are being interrupted by attacks on these facilities," said Bill Taylor, a senior U.S. embassy official in Baghdad. [more]