Iraqi parliamentary elections

Iraqi voters on Monday headed for the voting ballots to elect 220 members at the national council ( the Parliament) among 512 candidates in all parts of the country.

These elections, however, did not include the three Kurdish provinces because they have become out of Baghdad's control since 1991. The Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will appoint some 30 Kurds at the parliament until conditions permit the carrying out of elections in the said three provinces.

Among the candidates are 142 members in the Baath Party, representing 27.5% of the total number of the candidates, including the elder son for the Iraqi President, who is expected to assume the post of the speaker of the parliament.

The Iraqi daily Babel described, in its Monday's editorial the new parliament as the parliament of the 21st century, which takes into consideration current developments on the regional and international levels. He paper called for reactivating the Arab parliamentary Union and to make it on the level of performance with the European parliament.

The motto " lifting the siege" has become " number one element" which attract citizens to the voting ballots.

Retired employee Jabbar Ibrahim (65) at al-Karnak voting ballot east Baghdad said that he has come to choose " the one who works for lifting the embargo and ending the sufferings of the Iraqi people." Teacher Nahla Khamis (56) said she came to choose the candidates on the ground " working for the society and lifting the embargo."