Iraq: Election Losers Resort to Appeals
Efforts to calm down the situation in Iraq continued after protests against the results of recent elections turned into an open sit-in outside the Green Zone gates in Baghdad.
At the same time, forces that lost in the elections are betting on the results of the appeals submitted to the Elections Committee before they enter negotiations with other political parties.
On Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi reaffirmed his country’s commitment to protecting the UN mission in Iraq and other diplomatic missions in the country from any threat.
Citing Iraq’s commitment to international laws and norms, he reaffirmed Baghdad’s support for the missions carrying out their tasks.
Kadhimi, during a high-level national security meeting, reiterated Iraq’s firm rejection of being used as a springboard for attacking any other country.
The premier acknowledged that peaceful demonstration “is a constitutional right, and it is the duty of the security forces to safeguard the public’s right to express its opinion.”
However, Kadhimi noted that protestors must not violate the law, restrict citizens, block roads and disrupt public life and order.
“The government has played a major role in holding the elections, and the security services succeeded in securing polling stations, candidates and voters, and the vote was held, for the first time, without a curfew, and without booby-traps, assassinations and terrorist acts,” said Kadhimi.
Also, he stressed that objecting to election results must be part of the applicable legal procedures, which are the natural and sound path.
He called on demonstrators to cooperate with security forces so that they could carry out their duties in maintaining both security and public order.
In the meantime, Hadi al-Amiri, head of the Fatah Alliance, urged the Independent High Electoral Commission in Iraq to “seriously consider” all the appeals submitted to it in order to “reassure everyone and prove its full impartiality.”
