A senior UN envoy said on Thursday he had agreed with Iraq’s top Shi’ite leader that elections must be held, but he left open when, and said polls must occur in the best possible conditions.UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met the reclusive cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani in Najaf. The 73-year-old leader has not ventured out of his house or met a Westerner for years, aides say.It was not clear if the agreement on the need for polls to be well prepared meant that Sistani might be flexible on his call for early electionsA UN team led by Brahimi is touring Iraq to assess the feasibility of early direct elections. ‘‘Sistani is insistent on holding elections and we are with him on this 100 per cent because elections are the best means to enable any people to set up a state that serves their interest,’’ Brahimi said. There was no immediate comment from Sistani’s office. ‘‘We are in agreement with the Sayyid (Sistani) that these elections should be prepared well and should take place in the best possible conditions so that it would bring the results which the Sayyid wants and the people of Iraq and the UN,’’ Brahimi said.Brahimi is due to leave Iraq by Friday, a senior US-led administration official has said. The rest of the UN team has started touring provinces, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to give his opinion on February 21.Washington favours an approach involving regional caucuses selecting delegates and has set a deadline of June 30 to hand over sovereignty, with elections only in 2005.Recent suicide bombings and attacks on US troops have deepened fears about security at an election that could leave civilians vulnerable at polling stations. ‘‘Everyone wants elections if we can have real elections in the time limits we have,’’ said Adnan Pachachi, a secular Sunni member of the Iraqi Governing Council and head of the Iraqi Democratic Movement. —(Reuters)
