BAGHDAD, Nov. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The Higher Commission of Elections in Iraq certified the applications of 24 parties and political movements, and they are now able to take part in the elections due next January.

   Fareed Ayar, the official spokesperson of the Commission, told Xinhua on Sunday that the commission has the task of studying more applications, which reached 54, 43 of which were applied to national electoral office, six to the governorates' electoral center, and five applications for individuals, to be certified as political entities.

   The list of the certified parties did not include the two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Patriotic Union, headed by Jalal Talabani, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, headed by Massoud Barzani, while it included other Kurdish parties, and one Christian party.

   Ayar said that more certification documents would be issued in the coming few days. The procedure of registering candidates and voters started early this month.   Enditem