SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Senior Iraqi officials agreed on Tuesday to take all necessary measures that help hold an early election scheduled for June 6, an Iraqi presidency’s statement said.
Iraqi President Barham Salih held a meeting with Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, head of the Supreme Judicial Council Faiq Zidan, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and members of the Independent High Electoral Committee (IHEC) as well as U.N. envoy to Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert in Baghdad on Tuesday.
The participants agreed that it was “crucially important to take necessary actions that will help conduct an early election,” the statement read.
In July, premier Kadhimi called for early elections to take place on June 6, 2021, which is one of the main demands of anti-government protesters who organized months of mass demonstrations beginning in October 2020.
“We have to create the optimal conditions for securing elections that will bring more credibility to elections’ results,” the statement cited the officials as saying.
They also stressed the importance of increasing biometric voter registration, the statement said.
“We have to work to develop mechanisms that help use a card with a digital chip containing voters’ personal information in the next elections,” they said.
The officials also stressed on the need to take “firm actions to ensure that the election is free and fair” and to ensure that all the stages of the ballot process would be held in line with international standards.
Voter turnout in Iraq’s last election was 44.5 percent, but especially low in some impoverish southern Shia Muslim areas.
