UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- The Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations on Monday called on UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to send more experts to help with Iraq's Jan. 30 elections, warning that election preparedness might be adversely affected otherwise.

An Iraqi woman passes election campaign posters in Baghdad Dec. 11.  (yahoo/AP)

    Addressing the Security Council, Samir Shakir Sumaidaie also criticized the United Nations for using the "mantra" of insecurity to justify insufficient UN presence on the ground in Iraq.

    While welcoming Annan's decision to increase the number of election workers in Iraq, the envoy said the increase is still not enough and "we are concerned that this shortfall might adversely affect our preparedness" for the elections.

    "There is a dearth of UN workers, even in northern and southern Iraq, despite the relative peace and stability there," he said. "In the limited time we have left before elections it is critical for the UN to bolster its presence and intensify its activities in Iraq."

    All UN international staff withdrew from Iraq in October last year after two bombings hit the UN headquarters in Baghdad, killing top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 others. The UN reestablished its permanent presence in Baghdad in August. Currently, it has less than 35 staffers in the Iraqi capital.

    Annan has repeatedly stressed the United Nations would expand its presence in Iraq only "as circumstances permit," a diplomatic parlance to an improvement in security.

    But Samaidaie said: "As circumstances permit should not become a mantra repeated to justify insufficient presence on the ground in Iraq."

    He wondered how the world body could play the "leading role" mandated by relevant Security Council resolutions if it remained largely insulated from the Iraqi people.

    While fully aware of and preoccupied with the current security situation, the Iraqi government believed that it had a legal and political obligation to the people of Iraq to hold the elections on time, the envoy emphasized.

    He said the great majority of the Iraqi people wanted the elections to take place as planned and to postpone them might be seen as giving in to the terrorists.

    "One might have the impression that those who are calling for boycotting the elections were of similar weight to those who wanted to participate," he noted. "That is far from the case."

    Speaking to the council on behalf of the multinational force (MNF) in Iraq, US Ambassador John Danforth also urged the UN to put additional personnel on the ground, pledging MNF protection for them.

    "While the security situation in Iraq remains difficult, the increase in UN staff and support is essential to Iraq's political transition process," he said. "UN presence is critically important to successful elections next January 30 and beyond, and to economic development and reconstruction." Enditem