The Assyrian Democratic Organization
Syrie-BBC
Syria will allow Iraqis living in the country to cast ballots for the election in Iraq on 30 January.
The Syrian government signed an agreement with the International Organization for Migration, which will run an out-of-country voting scheme.
This will allow Iraqis to register and vote at an election centre in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Thirteen similar election centres are planned in other countries with large numbers of Iraqis.
Iraqis in Syria will be able to register between 17 and 23 January, and voting will take place from 28 to 30 January.
More than 250,000 Iraqis are believed to be living in Syria. Many of them moved there to escape worsening security conditions since the US-led invasion of Iraq.
“This programme gives Iraqis living in Syria a unique chance to participate in their homeland’s first democratic election in living memory,” Luis Martinez-Betanzos, who heads the vote scheme in Syria, said in a statement.
He said he was pleased with the level of co-operation from the Syrian government.
Border control
In a separate development, a senior American official said on Sunday that Syria has made progress in controlling its border with Iraq but it still needed to do more.
The comments were made by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage following a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
The BBC’s Jon Leyne says Syria has been under steady criticism from the United States in recent months over its role in Iraq, so the Syrian authorities will welcome these comments by Mr Armitage.
Washington accuses the Syrian government of not doing enough to prevent infiltration across its border with Iraq.
US officials also believe that significant financial support for the insurgency in Iraq is being channelled through Syria.
On Friday, Iraq’s interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi sent a letter to President Assad calling for the handover of Saddam loyalists who are disrupting security in Iraq.
4-1-2005
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