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WASHINGTON, Jan 12: The White House acknowledged on Wednesday that Iraqi elections, set for Jan 30, are "not going to be perfect".
Asked if the persistent attacks by militants would make voting impossible in some areas of the country, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said at a news briefing: "We all recognize that the election is not going to be perfect."
"This is the first time Iraqis will be able to freely choose their leaders. It's for a transitional government, and it's one of three elections that will take place over the course of this year," he said.
"And so we're going to do everything we can to help the Iraqi people and the interim government ensure as broad a participation as possible in this upcoming election," said Mr McClellan.
"What we're working to do is to work closely with the interim government Iraqi security forces to address some of those continuing security challenges," said the spokesman.
"You've heard directly from our military commanders that there are still a few areas - well four of the 18 provinces, I guess - where there are still ongoing security challenges, where the terrorists and Saddam loyalists are continuing to carry out violent acts," said the spokesman.
"We want to make sure that we have the best possible election. We want to make sure that there's as broad a participation as possible in those elections," he said.
IRAQI FM: Iraqi leaders too acknowledged on Wednesday that parts of the country remain too dangerous to conduct the election. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told an Egyptian newspaper the election would go ahead on Jan 30, but conceded there would be problems in ensuring a nation wide vote.
"The elections will not be perfect, nor organized 100 percent. There will be problems but we will hold them because the majority of people want them," Mr Zebari said.
He told the government newspaper Al Ahram that voting could be carried out in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces and that in the four troublesome provinces efforts would be made to ensure participation.
In the latest violence, two car bombings in Mosul killed two Iraqi soldiers, raising to five the death toll of the fledgling security forces in the troubled northern city within 24 hours, and an unknown number of civilians, the US military said.
The military also said American forces had arrested six men linked to last week's assassination of Baghdad Governor Ali al Hadaeri. Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi had said on Tuesday that some areas were not secure enough for people to vote. -AFP
