BAGHDAD, June 17: The US overseer in Iraq, Paul Bremer, said on Tuesday that elections in the war-torn country would be “premature” in the absence of proper electoral legislation and procedures.

“The proposition for elections ... is premature. There are no electoral laws, there are no reliable censuses ... there are no procedures in place,” he told a news conference.

His remarks followed the cancellation of elections for the post of governor in Najaf that had been slated for June 21.

Nineteen candidates were informed by representatives of the occupation forces on Saturday that the vote had been called off.

The officials instead proposed setting up a municipal council half of whose members would represent the main political groups in the city while the rest would be picked by the occupation troops.

The move angered candidates, with the representative of the Al Dawa party, Hussein al-Zamidi, threatening to sue the US and Britain after his party “spent a lot of money on these elections, which had US blessing”.

Baathists trial: The US administration governing Iraq announced on Tuesday plans to set up a criminal court to try members of the former government of Saddam Hussein.

US overseer Paul Bremer said “the central criminal court is so that we can try people, in particular Baathists and senior Baathists ... who may have committed crimes against the coalition or trying to destabilize the situation here”.—AFP