Interim president Al-Yawar has approved the delay

BAGHDAD, July 29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The interim Iraqi government decided Thursday, July 29, to delay for two weeks a proposed national conference, scheduled for July 31 to select a 100-member parliament.

"The UN said more time was needed and that it had to be delayed," committee member Sadeq Moussawi told Reuters shortly after Iraq's interim president Ghazi Al-Yawar agreed to the delay.

"They said that awareness of the conference was weak, that 60 percent of Iraqis didn't know it was going on, and argued that too many groups were outside the process."

On Tuesday, July 27, UN representative in Iraq Jamal Benomar warned that the conference should be postponed until next month to ensure that it is "as representative and as inclusive as possible and ... that a genuine national dialogue takes place".

Sources close to the event have been frustrated by what they call a serious lack of organization and a failure to publish guidelines or kick off a publicity campaign.

Earlier, Mithal al-Alussi, from the Iraqi National Congress party, said UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahami had also pressed the conference's preparatory committee to agree to postpone the meeting, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Brahimi spoke to the preparatory committee by telephone on Wednesday evening, asking the members not to hold the conference on Saturday and delay it," Alussi said.

He lashed out at Brahimi's intervention "as not serving democracy and the political process in Iraq".

The event's some 1,000 participants from various political movements, tribes and regions are to select a 100-member interim national council that will advise the government until elections can be held in January.

Until then, the council will have powers to approve the 2005 budget, veto legislation with a two-thirds majority, question ministers and pick a new president or deputy president if one of them dies in office.

Boycott

Even before the delay, several Iraqi observers expected the envisaged conference to end in failure after several Iraqi political groups announced they would boycott the conference.

Shiite leader Muqtada Al-Sadr has refused to take part in the event, criticizing the selection process.

The Muslim Scholars Association, Iraq's highest Sunni religious reference, also took the same position.

Its Secretary General Sheikh Harith Al-Dari said "the Association does not want to bear responsibility for decisions that do not serve our religion or country."

Also announcing boycott of the proposed conference were the Iraqi Islamic Party and the Kurdish Islamic Union.

Doomed

The London-based Al-Quds Press news agency said the preliminary elections held in Baghdad on July 26, proved a failure.

It cited that in one of Baghdad constituencies only 200 of the 820 candidates showed up for the voting.

Other participants accused a number of parties of not announcing the elections date to dodge the independent candidates.

Dar El-Salam directing editor Muhanad Serri also expected the national conference to fail.

"I think we should rather search for mechanisms to come closer to our citizens.

"It is unreasonable to seek democracy in a country where people get killed and assassinated on a daily basis," he was quoted as saying by Al-Quds Press.

Iraqis Apathetic

Most of the Iraqi people, preoccupied with their concerns, have shown apathy vis-à-vis the envisaged national conference, according to Al-Quds Press.

"This conference will not make any good. It is a power conflict between political parties that we know nothing about to make political gains, regardless of our concerns," said Mahmud Mohamed Ali, a preparatory school teacher.

"We had enough of these parties' hollow promises about reconstruction, security and welfare."

The Iraqi citizen recalled that for more than a year these parties have failed to provided the necessary services for the Iraqi people.

Heidar Gassem, a newspaper seller in Baghdad, said he has not even heard of the talked-about national conference.

According to Al-Quds Press his answer reflected the position of many Iraqis preoccupied with security and unemployment problems.