PARIS, Sept 27 (AFP) - Holding elections in Iraq whose outcome could not be disputed is "impossible" in the current chaos, according to King Abdullah II of Jordan in an interview in the Figaro to be published Tuesday.
"It appears to me impossible to organise indisputable elections in the chaos currently reigning in Iraq," the Jordanian monarch, who is scheduled to meet with French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday in Paris.
"If the elections take place in the current disorder, the best organised faction will be the extremists," he said.
"And the result will reflect the extremists' advantage. With such a scenario, there is no chance that the situation will improve."
The Iraqi administration and the coalition powers which support it are pledged to holding nationwide parliamentary elections by January at the latest.
But according to Abdullah II, "there is chaos in the streets, and every day that passes sees new agitators infiltrating across the borders which are terribly difficult to protect."
The monarch, who is due to visit Italy after completing his visit to France, called for "a rapid reconstruction of the former Iraqi army."
But he stressed that this should not include the generals, "rather the officers and junior officers, the middle ranks, who are the only people in sufficient number and ability to restore order."