“The UN sent 300-400 people to monitor the 2001 polls in tiny Eastern Timor, while 25 UN observers are to be sent to Iraq , of whom only 7 made it there so far,” Al-Dari said.

By Alaa Abul Eneen, IOL Correspondent

CAIRO , December 10 (IslamOnline.net) – Flatly denying US claims Iraq’s Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) was opposed to the political process in Iraq, AMS spokesman said it was impossible for fair or free elections to be held under current deteriorating conditions.

Explaining to IslamOnline.net, in a special meeting Thursday, December 9, the view point of AMS and other Iraqi national powers boycotting the January 30 polls, Muthanna Harith Al-Dari said “technicalities and realities on the ground” make such polls void and null, even before being held.

The AMS opposes holding the elections under the US occupation for purely technical and logical reasons, not, as the Americans claim, for rejecting any political process, Al-Dari asserted.

“The independent election commission in Iraq considered Iraq a single constituency, despite its huge space (438,000km). Also, the UN has pledged to send 25 observers, only seven of whom have arrived, to monitor the ballots.”

Al-Dari drew comparison with the UN-supervised 2001 elections in Eastern Timor , where the UN divided the tiny country into 12 constituencies and sent around 300-400 observers to monitor the ballots.

“This, in a nutshell, means the United Nations could not be monitoring the elections in Iraq . How could any sane person call that free or fair elections?”

Al-Dari added that it was impossible for fair or free elections to be held under the US occupation as it would create unhealthy reality that leads to marginalizing any Iraqi force opposed to the occupation.

Al-Dari stressed that the January ballots in Iraq aim only at legitimizing the US occupation of the war-torn country.

“Taking part in elections like these means nothing but to grant legitimacy to a completely illegal situation.”

He added that the deteriorating security conditions in Iraq would not only make it difficult for the Iraqis to easily cast their ballots, but also could cause them to turn away from the polling stations.

UN Iraqi envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned that holding the Iraqi elections would be impossible unless “first and foremost security improves.”

Not to Be Marginalized

The AMS spokesman denied the Iraqi powers boycotting the elections, most of them are Sunnis, would be marginalized from the Iraqi political life.

“Following the US occupation of Iraq , reports said the resistance groups would be marginalized, however, developments proved that such groups have been a key player in changing the US schemes in Iraq .”

Al-Dari said the US occupation forces were forced by the Iraqi resistance groups to form an interim governing council, issue the Iraqi interim constitution and form an interim parliament and government.

In the elections, Iraqis will choose a 275-member assembly that will write a permanent constitution.

If adopted in a referendum next year, the constitution would form the legal basis for another general election to be held by December, 2005.

The January general elections in Iraq are likely to be postponed amid rising boycott calls and deteriorating conditions, the spokesman of Iraq 's Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS) said during a special meeting with IslamOnline.net.

“The range of those opposed to the elections is getting wider and wider, further feeding indications that the polls could be put off,” Muthanna Harith Al-Dari said.

He said more than 69 Iraqi groups of various Iraqi sects and a list of 106 dignitaries living abroad have already signed a petition calling for boycotting the polls.

“A quarter of the Iraqi dignitaries who signed the petition are Shiites,” Al-Dari said, a few hours before representatives of the Shiite community announced a broad-based coalition of 22 political parties to run in national elections.

But scholars from the AMS have urged Iraqis to boycott the election in protest against the US-led massive attack on the city of Fallujah and the continued occupation of the country for more than one a half year now.

“Under current circumstances, elections could not be marked with integrity. And they would be considered a means to legalize occupation.”

Mounting Pressures

Al-Dari said the calls to boycott the polls are gaining momentum day in and day out.

Although he Shiite coalition, backed by leading Shiite scholar Ayatollah Ali Sistani, presented a list of 228 candidates under the United Iraqi Alliance banner Thursday, the boycott list includes other prominent Shiite leaders.

Al-Dari also cited the opposition of firebrand Shiite scholar Muqtada Al-Sadr to casting ballot in the January vote.

Sadr had earlier called for boycotting the elections to protest the occupation of Iraq -- which has the world's second largest oil reserves.

Iraqi observers said that Ayatollah Sistani is exerting great pressures on Sadr to back down on the boycott decision.

So far, close to 70 groups have threatened to boycott the vote, charging that any poll should only be held after the withdrawal of foreign troops and after the end of onslaughts on Sunni cities particularly Fallujah.

“The Americans are unable to control the elections as they discovered Iran ’s influential role in the area by which Iran can influence the ballots,” according to an Iraqi observer.

He cited that the Americans giving green light to some government officials to speak about the current inappropriate conditions not conductive to holding the elections, in a pre-step to delaying the ballots.

In two interviews with the mass-circulations the Washington post Wednesday, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Iraqi President Ghazi Al-Yawer accused Iran of interfering in the Iraqi internal affairs.