The general's announcement today only cast further doubt on the likelihood of such elections.
The nature of such elections, however, with their lack of openness and lack of independence from party interventions, was disappointing.
Voters rarely know much, if anything, about the candidates, making illusory the democratic benefits of such elections.
Right after the election, NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen said that "the holding of such elections does not contribute to a peaceful and lasting settlement of the situation in Georgia".
The prospect of such elections has been politically delicate because of the fear that some regions, like Shiite-dominated southern Iraq, are most likely to vote for leaders who support stronger regional governments at the expense of the Baghdad administration.
On the contrary, the Legislature has established a complex and detailed framework for presidential elections, and has granted the executive branch the authority to exercise limited discretion and to certify the results of such elections in accordance with statutorily imposed deadlines.
Depending on the outcome of such elections, slavery might spread to territories closed to it under the Compromise of 1850.
Congress may regulate political contributions and independent expenditures for any federal office as may be reasonable to protect the fairness and integrity of such elections.
Sec. 2. States and the District of Columbia may regulate political contributions and independent expenditures for any state or local office, or on behalf of any state or local referendum, within their jurisdiction, as may be reasonable to protect the fairness and integrity of such elections.
But the government would have to dissolve both houses on the day after the budget is delivered to avoid falling foul of the ban on such elections in the final six months of a parliament, resulting in an unusually long election campaign.
