NEW YORK, Jan 22: Abdul Al Hakim, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, on Wednesday urged US and United Nations' officials to explore ways to hold early elections in Iraq, rather than focusing on other plans such as caucuses.

Mr Hakim said demonstrations in Baghdad's streets showed strong support for elections to choose a provisional government by June 30. "We said clearly that we should have elections in Iraq and we should keep to the timetable of the transfer of sovereignty," Mr Hakim told reporters.

Mr Hakim and Adnan Pachachi, president of the Iraqi Governing Council, were among a delegation that recently held talks at the White House following meetings at the UN.

At the urging of the Iraqi leaders and the Bush administration, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is considering sending a team to Baghdad to study the election strategy. He is expected to announce his decision within a week.

The UN should "send a technical mission to decide the feasibility of the election," Mr Hakim said. US officials have said early elections in Iraq would be difficult because of a lack of electoral registers and polling laws. But the Bush administration has said it is open to "refinements" to the process agreed upon in November to move to a provisional government.