Iraqi opposition collect one million signature against the elections

One Iraqi group said it gathered the signatures of one million Iraqis from various religions and communities and regions opposing the holding of the elections due on January 30 because of the presence of the American forces and the applied emergency law in the country.

The secretary general of the Iraqi national preliminary conference, Abdul Amir al-Rikabi, said in a press conference in Beirut that the preliminary committee stemmed from that conference gathered the signatures on a memorandum to this effect during two months. He stressed that the lists of the signatories are still in Damascus and have not reached Beirut because members of the opposition Iraqi delegation did not get an entry visa to Lebanon.

Al-Rikabi did not suspect the elections which will be held in its due time despite the cycle of prevailing violence considering that the persistence of the US to make this election stems from its being the only means it owns to control the situation in Iraq.

The signatories of the memorandum which is addressed to the UN and its secretary general Kofi Annan said they want to direct the attention of the world to what they called the "lie of the elections" and total rejection of the declared emergency laws and the bloody attacks against the Iraqi cities, noting that such elections will not meet the minimum requirements of expressing the views of voters; while the American forces practice banning laws and obstructing simplest civilians rights.

Worthy mentioning that more than 300 Iraqi figures opposing the American forces and the Interim Iraqi government representing religious, national and leftist parties as well as the tribes took part in the preliminary conference of the Iraqi national constituent council which was held in Beirut on August 31 and from which a preliminary committee emerged including 60 members from various effective social sectors from the south to the north, according to the organizers of the conference.