1126iraq-wrap Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's spokesman said Saturday the government was determined to hold the Jan. 30 elections on time despite calls by Sunni Muslim politicians to delay the balloting for six months because of deteriorating security.
About 17 Sunni Muslim politicians urged the government Friday to postpone the elections, in part to persuade Sunni clerics to abandon their call for a boycott and to enable the authorities to secure polling stations.
However, the interim constitution and the U.N. Security Council have mandated a ballot by the end of January to meet demands by religious leaders of the majority Shiite community, which has been insisting on elections since the early months of the U.S. military presence.
A group of 42 parties and politicians, mainly from the majority Shiite Muslim community and the Turkomen minority, declared their opposition Saturday to any delay in the election, and a prominent Shiite figure said the timing of the ballot was "nonnegotiable."
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