UN Envoy Meets Iraqi Officials

As Iraqi Constitutional Referendum Goes Down To Wire, UN Envoy Meets Officials

New York, Oct 14 2005 3:00PM

With just hours to go before Iraqis vote in their historic constitutional referendum, the top United Nations envoy, who has been deeply involved in the political transition in the war-torn country, held a final series of meetings with senior officials.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative Ashraf Qazi met yesterday with Iraqi Vice President Ghazi el-Yawer, and briefed him on the UN's effort in making the draft constitution, as well as changes to the text enacted on Wednesday, available to as many Iraqis as possible.

Mr. Qazi also met yesterday with the Chairman of the Constitutional Committee, Sheikh Humam Hamoudi. He told Mr. Hamoudi about the steps taken by the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) to educate the electorate about the latest changes to the text so that they can make an informed choice during tomorrow's referendum.

Several UN agencies along with the UN Electoral Assistance Division and Department of Political Affairs have been involved in helping Iraqis to disseminate information about the constitution, explain the voting process and encourage widespread participation in the referendum.

The Division has supported the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq to produce and distribute educational materials such as posters and pamphlets, while public service advertisements have been broadcast on 13 Iraqi television stations and printed in seven major newspapers.

ENDS

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