Chaldean archbishop says Iraqis not ready for direct elections

Published: 2004-01-20

ROME (CNS) -- While the Iraqi people have a right to control their country's destiny, they are not ready for direct elections, said Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk, Iraq. Thousands of Iraqis marched in Baghdad, Iraq, Jan. 19 to show their support for a call by Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali Sistani for direct elections of a new Iraqi government by May. The U.S.-appointed administration of Iraq has said direct elections could not be arranged that quickly; the current U.S. plan is for members of the U.S.-appointed governing council to choose members of a national assembly by May 30. The assembly would appoint a transitional government that would take power July 1. In a Jan. 20 interview with Asia News, a Rome-based agency operated by the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, Archbishop Sako said, "the Iraqi people are not yet ready" for direct elections. "They must be prepared; they need to assimilate democracy; they must learn to respect and accept others," the archbishop said.

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