Iraq strikes off 100 poll candidates

Baghdad - Iraq's electoral commission is striking off 100 candidates who ran in the 15 December general elections for links with the banned Baath party.

Adil al-Lami, a commisson official, said: "A court has overruled the commission's initial decision to allow them to run and we are now applying the law and removing the names of about 100 candidates.

"We are asking political parties to submit new names from the same electoral lists to replace the candidates struck off."

He gave no details about which parties and candidates were affected.

The electoral law does not allow former senior officials from the Baath party to run for parliament. Final election results are not expected before January.

Most of those struck off are believed to be Sunni Arabs who were dominant under Saddam Hussein, the former president.

While the disqualifications should not affect the parties' overall parliamentary representation, they are expected to lead to the exclusion of some prominent figures. -- Al Jazeera News

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