UN team studying feasibility of elections continues meetings with Iraqis

The United Nations team studying the feasibility of holding early elections in Iraq continued its series of meetings today, holding talks with individual members of the Iraqi Governing Council as well as a private organization working with the coalition, according to a UN spokesman in New York.

The team began its day with a meeting with the International Foundation for Electoral Assistance, a non-governmental organization (NGO) providing advice for the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), spokesman Fred Eckhard said at a press briefing.

Later, the team met with three members of the Governing Council: Samir Sumaidy, a Sunni; Mahmoud Othman, a Kurd; and Son Gul Omer Chapook, a member of the Turkmen minority, who expressed support for a unified Iraq in which Arabs and Kurds can live together, the spokesman said.

The team is scheduled to meet tonight with a senior Shiite cleric, Ayatollah al-Sadr.