BAGHDAD, December 11, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) called on Sunday, December 10, for a halt to military offensives, especially in predominantly Sunni areas, to ensure the smooth running of legislative elections, one day after it came under a scathing criticism from Sunni leaders.

"We met with the heads of the Iraqi forces and the multinational forces and we emphasized the necessity of calming the situation and not launching further military offensives," Adel Al-Lami, chief electoral officer of the IECI, told a press conference.

"They were understanding and promised to put a halt to all operations except in the case of legitimate self defense," he added.

Sunni leaders have frequently slammed US-led offensives, killing and torture of Sunni Arabs, accusing US-backed Iraqi troops of trying to disrupt an effective Sunni participation in December 15 polls.

Lami said there would be 154 polling stations in Anbar, including eighty four in Fallujah and the surrounding area.

Sunnis accused the IECI Saturday, December 10, of failing to open much-needed polling stations in Sunni areas like Al-Mahmoudiya and Al-Youssifya, south of Baghdad.

Iraq's 15.5 million voters are to elect their first full-term legislature since the ouster of Saddam Hussein's regime by US-led occupation forces in April 2003.

The parliament will in turn form a full-term, four-year government.

Iraqis carry election posters in Basra. (Reuters)

Lami said the commission has received 85 complaints on violations of campaign regulations and they issued a statement urging "all parties to not sabotage the poll."

Tariq Al-Hashimi, the Secretary General of the Sunni Islamic Party and member of the umbrella Iraqi Concord Front (ICF) coalition, accused the IECI and Iraqi troops of committing "irresponsible and unacceptable" election violations.

He told a press conference Saturday that the ICF would not condone any irregularities and would stand up to those who want to disrupt Sunni participation in the polls.

Hashimi urged the international community to send observers to monitor the elections to guarantee fairness.

"We can smell forgery in the air, therefore, we call on the United Nations and relevant international bodies to join forces and stop such violations and send monitors to supervise the voting process."

The European Union rejected Saturday a British request to send election monitors to Iraq, according to Iraq’s Zaman newspaper.

The bloc, however, decided to send a low-profile delegation of three Member of the European Parliament, who are not authorized to monitor the election.

Hashimi also charged that 800 election officers in Anbar have been replaced with people from other provinces.

He called for annulling the emergency law applied in Anbar and Nineveh.

"This law is a stumbling bloc to our platform and will definitely strip us of seats within our reach."

The Sunni leader charged that campaign managers of the ICF receive death threats and have been shot and assaulted by both armed people and Iraqi troops.

He also faulted the make-up of the IECI, saying that it was unrepresentative of Iraq’s ethnic and religious mosaic.

Ihsanoglu called upon Sunni Arabs to "use this chance to participate en masse and effectively through voting".

In a related development, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) on Sunday urged Iraq's Sunni Arabs, who boycotted January 30 legislative polls, to vote in numbers in the upcoming elections, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu called upon Sunni Arabs to "use this chance to participate en masse and effectively through voting, to guarantee an effective space in the constitutional process," in the war-torn country.

"This way they would compensate for the harm they incurred, and their marginalization due to boycotting" earlier elections, he added.

The chief of the pan-Muslim body also called upon all Iraqis to take part "peacefully" in the Thursday's polls.

OIC leaders had concluded Thursday a two-day summit in the holy city of Makkah, hoping that a new Iraqi government "would guard Iraq's unity and achieve stability".

Resistance fighters in Anbar, described by Reuters as Saddam loyalists, also urged fellow Sunni Arabs to vote.

They said they are even prepared to protect voting stations from militants loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

"We are telling Sunnis that they have to vote for nationalist parties and even if they win we will be watching very closely to keep them in line," one resistance fighter told Reuters.

Election campaign posters dominate buildings in Sunni strongholds like Mosul, Ramadi and Fallujah.

The influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), which had urged Sunnis to boycott the "illegal" January polls, has so far been neutral.

However, some of its senior members have called participation in the polls a "religious duty".

Also read:

• Mosul Blanketed in Sunni Banners Ahead of Polls

• Killings, Kidnappings Reign Over Iraq Ahead of Polls