Iraq Elections: Farce of the Century

[Sandpiper]

Published on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
Iraq Elections: Farce of the Century
by Felicity Arbuthnot

Registration for expatriate Iraqis to vote in the Iraq elections began on Monday in fourteen countries - Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Jordan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States and runs until January 23. However, according to a renowned expert on international law, Sabah Al Mukhtar, the London-based President of the League of Arab Lawyers, the election is not alone fatally flawed, it is illegal. "Under the Vienna Convention, an occupying force has no right to change composition of occupied territories socially, culturally, educationally or politically. This election was based on the laws laid down by former 'Viceroy' American Paul Bremer and is entirely unconstitutional. Bremer personally appointed the overseers for the election", says Al Mukhtar, thus, far from 'free and fair' and heralding Iraqi 'democracy' they are entirely engineered by Bush's man.


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http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0118-32.htm