Bush hopes Iraqi polls will take place in Jan

CRAWFORD, TEXAS, NOVEMBER 27 (AGENCIES)

US President George W Bush said yesterday that he hoped that elections would take place as planned in Iraq in January.
"The Iraqi Election Commission has scheduled elections in January, and I would hope they would go forward in January," he told reporters before grabbing lunch in Crawford, where he was spending the thanksgiving holiday with his family.
Earlier, the commission said it would consider a call by top political parties to delay the January vote because of violence gripping the country, as US-led forces pushed on with an offensive against lawless towns.
Just five days after Iraq announced the first post-Saddam elections would be held on January 30, leading political parties called for a six-month delay because of the security situation.
"Unrest and terrorist acts as well as insufficient preparations at the administrative, technical and political levels require the date to be reconsidered," said a petition signed by 10 parties including Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's Iraqi national accord and the two main Kurdish parties.
Iraq's Electoral Commission is to examine the request today.