UN's Annan says Iraq bloodshed will affect elections

[truthpusher]

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/041221/1/3peo2.html

Wednesday December 22, 2:38 AM
UN's Annan says Iraq bloodshed will affect elections

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan insisted only Iraq can decide whether to go ahead with elections next month, but he warned that the ongoing bloodshed would have an effect on the polls.

Speaking as the United States insisted that the violence would not derail Iraq's first post-Saddam Hussein election due at the end of January, Annan said the UN's work in helping to ready the vote was on schedule.

"The technical preparations are on track and I hope that all Iraqis will exercise their right to vote," he told a press conference at UN headquarters in New York.

"The decision (to) go ahead or not is the Iraqis' decision, not ours," he said. "But the violence, if it continues, will have an impact on the elections. Elections don't take place in a vacuum."

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/041221/1/3peo2.html