The United Nations said last night elections in Iraq were not feasible before the US occupation ends on June 30th as Washington has long claimed.
UN officials said the world body wanted Iraqis to make proposals for selecting a caretaker government until elections can be held, but that it would be prepared to send an envoy to Baghdad if no solution or consensus could be reached.
UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan told reporters that "elections cannot be held before the end of June, that the June 30th date for the handover of sovereignty must be respected, and that we need to find a mechanism to create the caretaker government and then prepare the elections sometime later in the future."
The White House, which is trying to re-engage the UN in efforts to stabilise the country, had asked the world body to come up with proposals for Iraq's political future before and after the June 30th transfer of power.
Original US plans for the handover, which involved regional caucuses choosing an assembly that would select a government, were derailed after a leading Iraqi Shi'ite cleric demanded early direct elections.
The United States had said for some time that elections could not be held before June 30th because of security and logistical problems, and Mr Annan, who sent a team to Baghdad, agreed. UN officials said Iraqis also were determined to assume sovereignty on that date.
Some Iraqis feared that a UN delay in making proposals would mean the current US-selected Iraqi Governing Council might miss the February 28th deadline for rolling out an interim constitution.
But Mr Annan said there had been a "decoupling" of plans for an interim government and the constitution so "we don't have to meet that deadline."