Britain's chief diplomat pledged to work toward a federal government but not dictate its composition as a British newspaper reported Wednesday that London now backs early direct elections.
Speaking on the first day of the World Economic Forum, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Wednesday that the aim was to establish "a more stable, internationally recognized federal government ... that respects the diversity of the Iraqi people."
"Our job is not to dictate Iraq's future, but to support the consensus of Iraqi opinion," he stated.
Asked whether the coalition was worried about the emergence of a government dominated by the country's Shiite Muslim majority, Straw stayed neutral but said, "Sometimes people who you don't want to, win. It's called democracy."
He added the "coalition had to work with great respect" to Iraq's pre-eminent Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who says even a transitional government must be chosen by direct elections.
But although he said "personally the idea (of elections in principle) holds no problems for me," Straw said discussions were still under way on a possible compromise on US plans to pick the interim government through caucuses.
Straw comments came as a British newspaper reported the US-led occupation in Iraq is on the verge of bowing to mounting Muslim Shiite pressure for direct elections before the handover of power on June 30.
The Guardian, citing British officials, said Tony Blair's government has been swayed by Shiite arguments and Washington is also "shifting ground".
According to the report, they believe that Paul L. Bremer, the top US overseer in Baghdad, has been convinced of the need for direct elections, provided it can be shown that they are practicable.
"Iraq could become a reasonably functioning democracy, or else it will eventually fall apart," the paper cited an unnamed high-level British official, as saying. "Democracy loosens things up."
The official added, "Jack (Straw} has been telling Colin Powell [US Secretary of State] that the process is a bit like riding a bike. You've got to keep it moving, even if it wobbles all over the place."
The US-led Authority has come under mounting pressure in recent days from Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most senior Shiite cleric in Iraq.
Tens of thousands of his supporters staged protests in Baghdad and across Iraq Tuesday and earlier this week demanding direct elections this summer. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, thousands of Muslim Shiites demonstrated through the southern Iraqi town of Samawa in support of Sistani's demand for direct elections.
According to The Guardian, Bremer and his British deputy, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, persuaded United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan in New York on Monday to send a mission to Iraq to look at the "feasibility of direct elections" and to review their findings with Ayatollah Sistani. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
