SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Two more Iraqi political parties on Wednesday announced their withdrawal from the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for October 10.
Iraq’s National Front for Dialogue led by Salih al-Mutlaq said it would not take part in the early elections, according to national Iraqi news agency (NINA).
“The failure to provide a safe environment for early elections and the proliferation of out-of-control weapons for are all factors that confirm that no clear change will happen, and accordingly, the Front decided not to participate in the elections,” it said in a statement.
“It is not possible to hold fair elections without ending the fraud factors represented by uncontrolled weapons and political money,” it added.
The front participated in the 2018 elections as part of the al-Wataniya (national) coalition led by former prime minister Ayad Allawi.
The coalition won 21 out of the 329 seats in the Council of Representatives.
Following the announcement, the Iraqi platform headed by Allawi also said it would not take part in the upcoming elections.
“We announce our sincere and frank position to withdraw and boycott the elections,” deputy head of the party Wael Abdul Latif said.
“The percentage of public participation in it will diminish, and the process will produce an inefficient parliamentary session to bear the great burdens and a week government will result from it, coupled with corruption and forgery,” he added.
Their announcement came after Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announced earlier this month the withdrawal of his bloc from the elections, citing “rampant corruption and unfair competition” among political parties.
Iraqi Communist Party also said it would participate in the voting, saying the political parties “are not serious” in achieving demands of protesters that broke out in October 2019, and the upcoming elections “are nothing but a change of faces”.
Iraq is scheduled to hold early elections on Oct. 10, in response to the anti-government protests against corruption and lack of public services.
The previous parliamentary elections in Iraq were held on May 12, 2018, and the next elections were originally scheduled to take place in 2022.
