United Nations Radio

The top United Nations official in Iraq Friday condemned the latest incident in a series of election-related violence in the northern city of Mosul, in which a political candidate was murdered.

Staffan de Mistura

This, ahead of the provincial polls scheduled for later this month.

Special envoy for Iraq Staffan de Mistura, said the killing of Mowaffaq al-Hamdani, a candidate on the "Iraq for Us" list in Mosul, who was reportedly shot dead in a café on Wednesday, represents "the worst kind of election violence" and should not be tolerated.

In a statement, de Mistura, head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), noted there has been other election-related violence in Mosul in the past 10 days, including raids and attacks against candidates of the Hadba party.

He said "campaign violence in Iraq must not be allowed to intimidate candidates or interfere with the right of every Iraqi to exercise their vote on 31 January," the date set for the provincial elections.

The UN is assisting Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), which is responsible for preparing and conducting elections - which begin with the provincial polls and culminating with parliamentary elections in 2009-2010.

Donn Bobb, United Nations Radio

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