Reports of mass resignations played down: Iraq’s Independent Electoral Commission had played down reports of mass resignations by electoral officials in Sunni Muslim provinces to the north and west.

• Top electoral officials told reporters on Tuesday that there had been individual resignations, but all those who had stepped down had been replaced. The Anbar team has been replaced by officials from Baghdad, they said.

• In a suggestion that the insurgents were looking for new ways to intimidate voters, a militant group posted threats in at least two towns warning it would deploy “highly trained” snipers around Iraq during the elections. The statement, signed by the previously unknown Secret Republican Army, said 32 snipers will operate in Wasit, a largely Shiite province south of Baghdad that includes Kut, Numaniyah and Suwaiyra.

Allawi is a candidate in the election and has been increasingly visible in recent days. The news conference was his second in as many days, and he stood before several Iraqi flags and signs that read “Security and Safety First.”