Night curfew in all Iraq; end military attack before elections

With the approaching legislative elections due to start in Iraq on Thursday, the Iraqi minister of interior Bayan Jaber Soulgh announced taking strong security measures including the imposition of night curfew in all parts of Iraq, as from Tuesday until next Saturday and giving official leave during these days.

The measures also include closure of all international borders and crossing points and international airports before the trade and civilian aviation movements and restricting the movements of cars and vehicles and preventing civilians from carrying weapons.

In the same context, the elections commissions called for halting the military operations in al-Anbar, Ninwa and easing down conditions so as to permit voters in these governorates to cast their votes.

The officials in the commission Adel al-Lami said that 154 election centers will be opened in al-Anbar out of 207 centers that were to be expected there while 520 centers will be opened in Ninwa.

The commission had expected that results of the elections are to be announced within a time not to exceed ten days after its end. However, one western diplomat expected the results not to be announced before the end of the current year.

To this effect, the Shiite reference Ayatullah Ali al-Seistani called on the Iraqis to vastly take part in the legislative elections and not to waste their votes. He did not claim support for any of the participating parties.