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01/03/2005:

"Mosul election staff quit en masse"

The entire staff of Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission in the northern city of Mosul, amounting to about 700 emplo-yees, have resigned amid growing violence in the country.

Staff members said on Thursday their resignation followed threats they received in the past few days. The withdrawal of the Iraqi Islamic Party from the election also figured in their decision, Aljazeera has learned.

In its response, however, the electoral commission has vigorously denied the report. "That's not true. We have our staff in Mosul and al-Anbar," Abd al-Hussain al-Hindawi, the head of Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission, told AFP.

Al-Hindawi was also referring to the explosive province of al-Anbar, home to the strife-torn towns of Ramadi and Falluja. He declined to give staff numbers for Mosul, but said: "We have a larger staff than we did before across Iraq."

Legal action

In a related move that could affect the 30 January elections, Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr's political office announced it was taking legal action against the interim Iraqi government for alleged torture and murder of its members.
Full Article: aljazeera.net