Iraq’s Abadi: I take responsibility for ensuring next month’s poll is fair and just
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi has promised to ensure a fair election next month after raising doubts about the country’s electoral body.
“The Independent High Electoral Commission contains many problems,” Mr Al Abadi said in Baghdad on Sunday.
He said there was nothing independent about the commission and that the Iraqi Parliament, which selected the panel, would be responsible for ensuring the electoral process was unbiased.
“It is our responsibility to guarantee fair and just elections to the public and to support the IHEC,” Mr Al Abadi said. He said his government would follow up and suggest improvements.
Mr Al Abadi is seeking another term after taking office in September 2014, nearly four months after the Iraqi army collapsed in the face of an ISIS assault, leaving the extremist group in control of nearly a third of Iraq.
Iraq’s fractured political landscape since the 2003 US-led invasion overthrew dictator Saddam Hussein has led to accusations of electoral fraud in previous elections.
Almost 7,000 candidates are competing for 329 seats in the May 12 general election, which will be Iraq’s fourth since the Americans invaded.
“Given Iraq’s history of election-season instability, the coming elections could deepen existing tensions rather than unify the country,” the International Crisis Group said in a report.
Iraq’s next government will face the challenge of rebuilding the war-torn country after a three-year war against ISIS, and battling entrenched corruption eating away at its oil revenue.
The country also faces one
of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with more than 3 million people displaced as a result of the fight against ISIS.
Politicians “must find a way for displaced persons to participate without fear of intimidation,” the International Crisis Group said.
Iraq is also trying hundreds of men and women accused of links to ISIS. Yesterday, the Justice Ministry announced the execution 13 people, including 11 convicted of “terrorism”. They include people responsible for car bombings, killing security troops and kidnappings, it said.
Iraqi elections since 2003 have typically been accompanied by violence, with two attacks on politicians reported on Sunday.
A car bombing in Kirkuk, a contested multi-ethnic city about 250km north of Baghdad, killed a person and wounded 11.
“A civilian was killed and 11 people were injured, including three bodyguards, in the convoy of Ammar Hadaya Kahya, a candidate for the Turkmen Front in Kirkuk,” said the head of the Iraqi Turkmen Association in Europe, Sundus Abbas.
“Since 2003 we have been used to being targets, we don’t know who has been targeting our party members. This has been an occurring case against the Turkmen in Kirkuk for the last 15 years. We believe this is done to get us to abandon our homes.”
Iraqi troops seized the oil-rich Kirkuk region from Kurdish fighters last year after a vote for independence in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.
Turkmen largely welcomed the return of government control, after the Kurds took over the area amid the chaos of ISIS’s march across Iraq in 2014.
“The targeting of Turkmen has decreased since October,” Mrs Abbas said. “But we are anticipating further attacks.”
Since the return of Baghdad’s forces, the region has seen clashes between Kurdish fighters and Turkmen units of the Hashed Al Shaabi paramilitary forces, which are officially part of the government army.
Mr Kahya, the election candidate whose convoy was attacked, is an adviser to Falah Al Fayadh, who leads the Hashed.
Also on Sunday, National Coalition member Abdul Karim Abtan survived an assassination attempt. Mr Abtan’s convoy was shot at with silenced weapons in Dora district of southern Baghdad.