Slow Registration May Delay Afghan Elections/Daily Times--New WMW

[Gloria]

Rull excerpts,links up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


WORLD MEDIA WATCH FOR OCTOBER 4, 2004

1//The Jordan Times, Jordan--‘IRAQ REBEL ENCLAVES TO BE RETAKEN BY DECEMBER’ (US troops in Iraq will push on with air strikes and ground offensives against rebel enclaves over the next three months to give the Iraqi government the best chance of restoring control ahead of elections in January, a senior official said. Iraq's fledgling security forces will play a bigger part in these operations with the number of army battalions set to increase five-fold by January, Brigadier General Erv Lessel told AFP. But a leading Sunni Muslim religious group criticised the logic of using brute force, such as a massive combined assault on the Sunni insurgent-held city of Samarra that left some 150 people dead, to achieve democratic goals…Asked about warnings by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld among others that elections might be impossible to organise on time in all parts of Iraq, Lessel acknowledged that the remaining insurgent enclaves posed a problem.)



2//KurdishMedia.com, UK--HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS DEMAND INDEPENDENCE (Hundreds of thousands of Kurds marched Saturday in the cities of Arbil, Kerkuk, Suleimani, Dohuk and Khaneqin revindicating their right of self determination. The demonstration was organized by the Referendum Movement, considered the widest civic organization in southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan. This demonstration was planned after the collection of two million signatures from the 5 million habitants of the region including 250,000 from the Kurdish Diaspora.)


3//The Independent, UK--AERIAL SHOW OF FORCE FAILS TO REASSURE NERVOUS AFGHAN VOTERS (The security is more about the fear of Taliban attacks than of voting irregularities. As Saturday's poll nears, fear has gripped Kabul. The streets are emptier than usual, taxis refuse to go to the more crowded areas, and many foreign NGO workers have fled. Beside the posters for the candidates, rival messages from the warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar have appeared, telling Afghans to stay away from polling stations. The international forces warn of as many as 2,000 militants crossing from Pakistan to mount attacks on the election… The problem is greatest in rural areas. Many Afghans have been complaining that warlords are threatening them, and trying to direct their votes.



4//The Daily Times, Pakistan--SLOW REGISTRATION MAY DELAY AFGHAN ELECTIONS (The upcoming presidential elections in Afghanistan are likely to be postponed because of the sluggish response by 800,000 potential voters living as refugees in Pakistan during the first two days of the three-day registration period. Preliminary figures released by the International Organisation for Migration, which is overseeing the registration process, indicated that only 140,000 refugees registered on the first day (Friday). Official sources told Daily Times that a decision on whether to postpone the elections or not would be taken on either Sunday (today) or Monday… However, the low turnout could be attributed to the fact that few Afghan communities were willing to allow women to participate in the voting, said an IOM press release. The number of registered female voters is low, making up only 22 percent of the 140,000 who registered on Friday, IOM spokesman Greg Bearup said.



5//The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia--GREENS SURGE AS COALITION HOLDS LEAD(The Coalition has consolidated its strong position ahead of Labor in the final week of the election campaign, with support for the Greens surging to new heights in the Senate, the latest Herald Poll shows. It paints a picture of a polarised electorate persistently supporting the Coalition but favouring the Greens in the Senate to put a brake on the Government…In an uncharacteristic admission, the Prime Minister, John Howard, yesterday reversed his claim to be the underdog in this campaign, telling the Sunday program: "I think we'll make it, but it'll be very close." The Opposition Leader, Mark Latham, appeared to assume the role of underdog as Labor went into the final week of the campaign. The Coalition had "all the benefits of incumbency, that's the reality of our campaigning", he said.)