Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has met with Iraqi tribal and secular leaders Wednesday in Jordan, in an effort to win broad support for Iraq's January 30 elections.
As many as four million Iraqis live outside the country, and the interim government is eager to include them in the electoral process.
Inside Iraq, some Sunni parties and clerics want the vote to be postponed for six months, citing the security situation. But Iraq's interim President Ghazi al-Yawar, a Sunni, Wednesday said the elections must be held on time.
Iraq's main Kurdish groups, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, say they have agreed to form a single candidate list for the elections.
Meanwhile, U.S., British and Iraqi troops arrested dozens of people in raids on suspected insurgent hideouts, in an effort to stabilize the country before the vote, which is only 60 days away.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.
