[JURIST] The polls have opened in Iraq's first democratic election in a half-century. Stay tuned for continuous updates on our special Iraqi Elections website.

[JURIST] US Central Command reported late Saturday that the last UN-made ballots, printed by a special process in Switzerland to reduce the threat of fraud, have been delivered to polling stations in Baghdad as Iraq prepares to conduct its first free elections since 1944. Read the Central Command press release. When more than 5000 polling stations open at 7 AM Sunday local time (11 PM Saturday ET) Iraqis will be able to vote for local councils and for a National Assembly that is supposed to draft a permanent constitution - replacing the current Transitional Administrative Law [text] - by August 15, 2005. Under this timetable [US State Department factsheet], which can be extended by six months, the draft must be presented the draft is approved, new elections for a permanent Iraqi government have to be held no later than December 15, 2005 and a new government has to assume office no later than December 31, 2005; if the constitution is rejected, the National Assembly will be dissolved and new elections for a new National Assembly will have to be held no later than 15 December 2005. While the permanent constitution is being drafted the National Assembly will also pick a tri-partite Presidency Council (a president and two vice-presidents), which will select a new interim prime minister and government.

Stay with JURIST for continuous online coverage of the Iraqi elections featuring:

• the latest wire stories out of Iraq
  
• live TV from Iraq via KurdSat; live BBC World Service audio
  
• JURIST's full Iraqi elections news archive
  
• video briefings by Iraqi and UN officials on election preparation
  
• links to the Iraqi electoral commission, Iraq political parties, party TV ads, out-of-country voting information and special US goverment websites on the vote

[JURIST] A UN appeal to European Union countries to draft a joint resettlement policy that would allow for acceptance of more refugees was met with reluctance Saturday by European justice and immigration ministers gathered in Brussels. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers [official profile] called on EU states to agree to measures that would allow relocating refugees evenly across the EU. Germany in particular cited economic concerns and argued it cannot cope with the number of refugees currently seeking asylum within its borders. EU ministers agreed in 2004 [EU directive] to set up a common asylum and immigration policy by 2010. An action plan to meet that goal is to be drafted in May. AP has more.

[JURIST] Colombia officials in Bogota have announced the end of a dispute with Venezuela [JURIST report] over the capture of leftist rebel leader Rodrigo Granda [Rebelion report]. Colombian officials have acknowledged paying bounty hunters to capture Granda, a spokesperson for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) [faction website], on December 13, 2004 in Caracas. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe [BBC profile] is expected to meet with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez [BBC profile] on February 3 to discuss next steps. VOA News has more.

[JURIST] Insurgents attacked a police station Saturday in Khanaqin near the border with Iran, killing eight people and making a total of seventeen killed across the country on the eve of elections. The latest attacks came even as security forces barricaded streets, sealed the border, and closed Baghdad airport. Sunni Muslim extremists have threatened to "wash the streets" in the blood of those who attempt to vote in the elections this Sunday. Reuters has more.

In other Iraq election news...

• Iraqi president Ghazi al-Yawar [Wikipedia profile] was reported early Saturday as saying that he did not expect the majority of Iraqis to vote [Reuters report] because of increasing security concerns, insisting that fear rather than boycotting would keep Iraqis from the polls. He later said he had been misinterpreted, and that although he expected most Iraqis who did not vote to have been dissuaded by fear, he nonetheless expected up to two-thirds of eligible voters to cast ballots. Reuters has more.
  
  
• Outside of Iraq, fighting broke out Saturday at a polling station in Sydney as protestors opposed to the poll confronted expatriate voters. Later an abandoned bag created a bomb scare outside the polling place which was evacuated until the bag was confirmed to be harmless. BBC News has more.
  
  
• Hundreds of Iraqi expatriates voted Friday [Iraq OCV official website] in the US with thousands more expected to vote Saturday and Sunday. Nearly 26,000 people have registered to vote in the five US polling cities of Detroit, Chicago, Nashville, Los Angeles, and Washington. AP has more. The Iraq Out-of-Country Voting Program announced Saturday that over 84,000 expatriate Iraqi voted worldwide [Iraq OCV press release] on the first full day of out-of-country voting, less than a third of those who had registered.

[JURIST] The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission [AIHRC official website], a watchdog group supported by the UN and set up pursuant to the 2001 Bonn Agreement [text], called on the international community and the US-backed Afghan government [official website> Saturday to aid in the prosecution of war criminals. After more than two decades of conflict during the Soviet occupation and subsequent civil wars through the recent downfall of the Taliban regime, surveys of more than 7,000 Afghans taken by the AIHRC reveal that most Afghans see themselves as victims of war crimes. Forty percent of survey respondents demanded the prosecution of war criminals while 90 percent wanted war criminals removed from public office. The European Union has welcomed the report and urged the Afghan government to closely consider the recommendations. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The execution of serial killer Michael Ross [About.com profile] was postponed early Saturday morning one hour before it was scheduled to take place [JURIST report]. Ross attorney T.R. Paulding, hired by Ross last year to speed the execution process, asked for a delay until Monday citing a possible conflict of interest but did not elaborate about what that conflict might be. The postponement came after a federal judge reprimanded Paulding for trying to help expedite Ross' death sentence. The state must execute Ross by Monday evening or its death warrant expires and officials will have to go before a judge and ask for a new one. AP has more.