UPDATE ~ Three Iraqi candidates assassinated by gunmen News
UPDATE ~ Three Iraqi candidates assassinated by gunmen

[JURIST] Updating a JURIST report from earlier today on new security regulations for the upcoming January 30 elections in Iraq, Iraqi party sources said Tuesday that gunmen had killed two candidates of Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's political coalition in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Monday. Alaa Hamid was running for election to the 275-member Iraqi National Assembly; Riad Radi was in a local race for a seat on Basra's provincial council. Also on Monday, a third candidate running for the Constitutional Monarchy Movement [party website], headed by Sharif Ali bin Hussein [BBC profile], a cousin of Iraq's last king, was killed in Baghdad. The security situation for candidates is so bad in the face of killings and threats by militants opposed to the vote that many have chosen not to announce their candidacy. Aljazeera has more. Review an official slate of Iraq National Assembly candidates [PDF; in Arabic] produced by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq [official website].