Iraqi President Barham Salih said that calling for early, free and fair elections is one of the requirements for political reform, and it is an entitlement produced by the popular movement.
In a statement released by his office today, Saleh stressed the importance of serious work towards achieving this commitment, which Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi announced in fulfillment of his pledges to the government program as soon as possible. Possible to get out of the political crisis, which he described as serious and intolerable to procrastinate, calling on the House of Representatives to complete the election law as soon as possible, and send it to the Presidency of the Republic for approval and proceeding with its implementation.
He also called for expediting the approval of amending the law of the Federal Supreme Court, and providing the budget and facilities required for the work of the Independent High Electoral Commission, to ensure its independence and the integrity of the electoral process.
The Iraqi President considered that the crisis that Iraq is suffering from stems from the spread of corruption and its direct impact on obstructing the desired reform, which affected the electoral process in the indicators of fraud and tampering with the results, which led to the absence of citizen confidence and abstention from the elections.
He continued, "Effective solutions stem from the citizen and his independent decision, away from fraud and fraud and influencing his electoral choice, in order to enable the country to move towards the desired structural reform."
He emphasized that the holding of free and fair early elections requires international cooperation with the Independent High Electoral Commission, as well as the supervision of international observers to enable them to play their national role and protect them from interference.
Different positions
Al-Kazimi had set June 6, 2021 as the date for the early parliamentary elections in the country, and some political forces were quick to support this date, while others called for an earlier date, and the United Nations Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) expressed its willingness to provide technical support for the success of the elections.
The new draft election law is the biggest dilemma in the way of holding elections, as the project remains in place since last year due to the differences between political blocs on some of its articles.
And the Iraqi parliament began late last year to discuss the new law, which would make room for more independents and small blocs to rise to parliament.
However, differences still exist regarding major items in the law, including those related to adopting one electoral district at the level of a single governorate or multiple districts, as well as adopting direct candidate voting, or voting for the electoral list.