IRAQ PM SAYS ELECTIONS WILL BE ON TIME DESPITE CALLS FOR DELAY
Sunni alliance wants polls postponed until displaced millions return home, but parliament is set to give a go-ahead
Iraq’s prime minister Haider Al Abadi has said that the collapse of his political alliance will not delay the country’s general elections.
The vote, which is scheduled for May 12, is the first since government security forces and allies routed ISIL, but it has been thrown into doubt because of sectarian tensions.
Parliament will hold a session today to approve the election date.
But concern that the polls may be delayed has risen after the country’s main Sunni alliance urged MPs to delay it, to allow almost three million people displaced by the fighting to return to their homes.
“We will not allow interference from those who disrupt democracy for personal gain,” Mr Al Abadi said on Tuesday, insisting the elections would go ahead as planned.
On Monday, the premier’s Nasr Al Iraq or Victory Alliance, which included the Al Fatih bloc – a group of powerful Shiite militias considered close to Iran – fractured a day after its formation.
Several Al Fatih members withdrew from the coalition, with some accusing their shortlived allies of sectarianism and corruption.
Al Fatih said it would stand as a separate entity in the ballot.
The group’s withdrawal came after Shiite leader Ammar Al Hakim, considered sceptical of Iran’s influence in Baghdad, said he would be joining Nasr Al Iraq.
Mr Al Abadi responded by saying he would not conduct negotiations with electoral blocs affiliated with armed militias. He said the political process should not be conducted along sectarian lines.
But such hopes are dwindling, as the head of the Sunni alliance stressed that “the elections cannot be held in areas of danger”, even after ISIL’s forces were chased from the country.
Managing more than two million Iraqis displaced by the war is one of Mr Al Abadi’s biggest responsibilities and he risks alienating Sunni voters if they are exposed to booby traps or violence in their home areas.
“The government is determined to guarantee the safe and dignified return of all displaced civilians,” Mr Al Abadi said.
The war with ISIL has uprooted nearly six million Iraqis since January 2014, with 3.4 million in March 2016 being the highest number displaced at any one time.
At the end of last year, 2.6 million people were displaced within the country, according to figures from the International Organisation for Migration.
The setback to Mr Al Abadi’s election strategy comes amid efforts to resolve the central government’s dispute with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s over land and oil revenue sharing.
On Monday, delegates of the two sides reached an initial agreement to lift an international flight ban imposed by Baghdad on the northern region after the administration in Erbil held an unsanctioned but hugely popular independence vote last year.
The Kurdish prime minister, Nichervan Barzani, announced yesterday that Erbil and Sulaimaniyah’s international airports would be allowed to resume flights if they follow regulations set by the Iraqi civil aviation authority.
Mr Al Abadi stressed that progress had been made at the talks, adding that: “Baghdad is prepared to solve all outstanding issues.”
Prime minister Al Abadi’s determination to plough on with May elections may lead to tension with Sunni communities just beginning to recover from years of fighting