Jordan Times
Thursday, December 2, 2004
Jordan backs efforts to hold
voting
By Alia Shukri Hamzeh with agency dispatches
AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday said Jordan will fully back Iraqi
efforts to hold elections.
King Abdullah told Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi at a meeting that the
Kingdom will also support the neighbouring country in all domains, including the
training of security forces and police, in a way that would help the government
restore security and stability, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
Jordan last year agreed to train around 32,000 Iraqi police officers here as
part of efforts to back Iraq's rebuilding process. More than 7,000 Iraqi
soldiers and police officers have so far taken part in the training.
Allawi, who arrived in Amman Tuesday en route to Germany and Russia, also met
several Iraqi political figures and tribal chiefs as part of attempts to garner
support from “exiled Iraqis” for the upcoming polls.
The meeting was a prelude to a larger but unconfirmed talks with around 120
political figures in Amman on Dec. 8.
“Today's meeting was just part of getting together with old friends and
political figures,” said Taha Hashimi, director of Allawi's press office.
“It was not an official meeting.” Hashimi did not say who met Allawi during the
several-hour gathering at an Amman hotel. But news agencies quoted the prime
minister's spokesperson Thaer Al Naqib as saying that the premier met Duleim
tribe member Majid Abdul Razzaq Al Suleiman and Imad Shabib of the Iraqi
National Accord.
According to Hashimi, Allawi briefed the figures on the political situation in
Iraq and the rebuilding process, urging them to return to the country and be
part of the political arena.
A number of Iraqi parties called for a six-month delay to the elections, saying
the ongoing violence would hamper any viable polls.
Some Sunni tribal and religious leaders threatened to boycott the elections. The
Iraqi government, however, said it would go ahead with the voting as scheduled.
“Allawi and the Iraqi government insists on holding the elections on time,” said
Hashimi.
According to Iraq's interim constitution, elections should be held before the
end of January. Delaying them is expected to enter the current government in a
legal vacuum.
In a related development, visiting US senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware) told
reporters here ahead of a trip to Iraq that Allawi's efforts to engage all
Iraqis in the electoral process was highly encouraged and a positive sign to all
those who have been refusing to be part of it.
Biden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the
Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, arrived in Amman from Israel and the
Palestinian territories following talks with officials from both sides on the
Jan. 9 Palestinian election.
He was accompanied by senators Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska), Dianne Feinstein
(D-California) and Lincoln Davenport Chafee (R-Rhode Island).
News reports hinted that Allawi would meet with members of the former Iraqi
regime to include them in the process. But he denied such reports.
The senators agreed that it would be very difficult to set up a comprehensive
election mechanism, but stressed the importance of ensuring security “so that
the people are no longer intimidated from the violence and are able to cast
their votes.”