Monitors too scared to visit Iraq polls

Chaos at the heart of the Iraqi elections was revealed today - three days before the country goes to the polls.

The landmark elections are seen as critical to the American bid to bring democracy to the country.

But, with an expected turnout of only one third of voters, they face a string of problems. There has been no campaigning because of security fears - so most candidates are anonymous - and the location of polling stations is being kept secret until the last minute, meaning voters are unlikely to know where to go.

Now the Evening Standard has learned that international election monitors are so fearful of their safety most will not even be in the country they are meant to be scrutinising.

The men and women of the International Mission for Iraqi Elections (IMIE) will not be visiting a single Iraqi polling station, nor meeting a single Iraqi voter. They will pronounce on the election's freedom and fairness from a five-star hotel in Amman, capital of neighbouring Jordan, nearly 1,000 miles west of Baghdad.

International observers are considered vital in all countries moving from tyranny to free voting. In Ukraine, they helped alert the world when the ruling party tried to steal the election. Earlier this month, 800 international monitors scrutinised the election of a successor to Yasser Arafat as Palestinian president.

In Afghanistan 120 international observers were deployed, adding to that poll's credibility. But Iraq is so dangerous for foreigners that of the 50 or so IMIE staff, only three will be in the country on polling day. Even they are unlikely to leave the HQ of Iraq's election commission inside Baghdad's secure Green Zone. Jean-Pierre Kingsley, chairman of the IMIE steering committee, the only member of the monitoring body to be publicly identified, said: "Our mission will be accomplished to the fullest extent possible in the evolving circumstances.

"While the IMIE recognises that it would be desirable to have larger numbers of international observers at polling locations throughout Iraq, we respect that the priority of security forces must be to safeguard Iraqi voters, candidates and electoral staff."

Rick, another IMIE official who asked that his surname not be used, said: "In terms of looking at the actual polling we'll be doing what everybody else is doing - relying on the Iraqis. We have numerous sources inside Iraq with whom we will be in minute-by-minute contact." The IMIE includes experts from nine countries but not one is from an Arab nation.