Iraq Could Hold Elections Next Summer

Ambassador Paul Bremer said during a ceremony marking the reopening of Iraq’s foreign ministry, ”It is certainly not unrealistic to think that we could have elections by mid-year 2004.”

“And when a sovereign government is installed, the coalition authority will cede authority to the government and my job here will be over.”

Bremer further said a new Iraqi constitution could be drafted and voted on in a referendum before general elections next summer. He said Iraq would not need outside overseers once it has an independent government.

“Although that will mark my final retirement as a diplomat, it will mean that you, the diplomats of Iraq, will be going forward representing a fully sovereign government,” Bremer said.

Iraq’s current 25-member governing council is made up of U.S. -appointed Iraqis who have been given broad authority, but still may be overruled by Bremer and his provisional authority. The governing council took office on July 13.

Bremer’s statement comes as two more American soldiers were killed Thursday in separate incidents.

One soldier died and three others were wounded when their armored vehicle struck a landmine near Baghdad’s airport.

A second soldier was killed and two others were wounded when gunmen attacked members of the 4th Infantry Division near the town of Baqoub northeast of Baghdad.

51 U.S. soldiers have been killed in combat since President Bush announced the end of major combat operation on May 1.