NY Times: Anxiously, Shiites Await U.N. Word on Elections

[La_Serpiente]

Anxiously, Shiites Await U.N. Word on Elections

NAJAF, Iraq, Feb. 16 — The air in this town crackles with the tension of a courtroom waiting for a verdict.

A United Nations statement on the feasibility of holding elections before the June 30 transfer of power in Iraq is expected this week. And nowhere is the news awaited more anxiously than here, the heart of Iraq's Shiite population and home to the influential Muslim cleric pushing for elections in place of the caucus-style system favored by the Americans.

Men slapping down backgammon chips in tea houses are talking about it. So is the boy selling steaming bowls of chickpeas from a dented metal cart. The hope of early elections — and the troubles that could be unleashed if self-rule is postponed — has monopolized conversation here, said Hussein al-Zamily, an official of the Dawa political party.

"The worries are increasing," Mr. Zamily said. "If the U.N. goes our way, there will be peace. If they don't, it will be harder for the religious leaders to maintain control."

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Anxiously, Shiites Await U.N. Word on Elections

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