“We all recognize that the election is not going to be perfect,” McClellan said.

BAGHDAD, January 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The White House acknowledged the Iraqi controversial general elections, set for January 30, will be flawed over raging insecurity in the war-torn country as more Iraqi parties boycott the polls.

Also, a leading US daily highlighted the delay demand, calling on the Bush administration to mull a poll delay in the occupied Arab country to avoid the worst-case scenario of an Iraqi civil war.

The White House said Wednesday, January 12, that the January elections in Iraq are “likely to be less than perfect”, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

“We all recognize that the election is not going to be perfect,” said Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman.

“This is the first time Iraqis will be able to freely choose their leaders. It's for a transitional government, and it's one of three elections that will take place over the course of this year,” he said.

The US-picked interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi admitted Tuesday that some parts of Iraq would not be safe for the Iraqi voters to cast ballot in the January elections.

“What we're working to do is to work closely with the interim government Iraqi security forces to address some of those continuing security challenges,” said McClellan.

“You've heard directly from our military commanders that there are still a few areas -- well four of the 18 provinces, I guess -- where there are still ongoing security challenges, where the terrorists and Saddam loyalists are continuing to carry out violent acts,” said the spokesman.

Iraqi voters are to choose a 275-member assembly, which will be charged with writing a permanent constitution.

If adopted in a referendum later this year, the constitution would form the legal basis for another general election to be held by December 2005, according to the related UN Security Council resolution.

A senior US administration official also said the Iraqi general elections are going to be a tough task due to the security problems in the occupied country, according to Reuters.

“Everyone will concede there are some challenges and in some of the provinces there will be significant impediments to conducting the elections,” the official said.

“We face some challenges but the elections will go forward. The Iraqi interim government has said they will go forward... In spite of the challenges, the international community and the Iraqi interim government and the Iraqi people will face this challenge,” he added.

Worst Scenario

Calls for a poll delay are becoming louder. (Reuters)

The low US expectations on the Iraqi elections come as the mass circulation The New York Times called Wednesday on the Bush administration to mull a delay of the Iraqi elections in a bid to avoid a civil war in the country.

A postponement of the polls for a fixed period of two or three months would be a sign to the Iraqi Sunnis, increasingly feeling estranged since the US invasion-turned occupation of Iraq, that their concerns were being taken into consideration and an assurance that the Shiite majority in Iraq was not planning to trample on their rights, the US daily said.

Several politicians and party officials in Iraq are pressing for a six-month delay of the vote over the increasing deteriorating security conditions.

The latest of a series of Sunni withdrawal from the elections was the Patriotic Front for Iraqi Tribes, a major Sunni tribal coalition, which said Wednesday that it would withdraw from the elections unless the polls are postponed due to the deteriorating security conditions in the country.

The Islamic Party, a major Sunni political player, recently backtracked on its earlier decision to vie, dealing a huge blow to the process.

The Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), the highest religious authority in the country, pressed for a boycott of the elections, citing the impossibility of organizing fair elections held under current deteriorating conditions.

US analysts and officials also predicted Tuesday, January 11, the coming controversial Iraqi polls to lead to more chaos and instability.

UN Iraqi envoy Lakhdar Brahimi also warned that holding the elections would be impossible unless “first and foremost security improves” with many, including Britain’s The Independent, expecting the vote to be one of the most “secretive” polls in history.