In defiance of militias, Al-Kazemi outlines strategy for holding elections
The Iraqi Election Commission announced that they had sent official invitations to 52 Arab and foreign embassies and 19 international organizations to monitor the electoral process and ensure their integrity, in a new challenge to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi against the armed militias in his country, which consists of organizing legislative elections.
According to the commission’s spokesperson, Jumana Al-Ghalai, the commission also sent invitations to 71 international bodies to monitor the electoral process with their negative and positive aspects, in accordance with Commission Law No. 31 of 2019, article 10, paragraph 4, chapter eight, which provides for the accreditation of international observers in the electoral process in coordination with the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Commenting on this, Abdullah Abu Al-Ela, a researcher in Arab affairs, said: Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi always confirms his determination to ensure the success of the elections in Iraq and to hold them on time, as The Coalition national leader led by Iyad Allawi expressed fears of a widespread boycott of it due to the militias and the uncontrolled weaponry. Adding that he is fighting armed militias in the country, because the intensive military deployment of the Peace Brigades has caused widespread public embarrassment, and this process also shows the weakness of security and military institutions in the face of the influence of militias and dominant parties on the political scene and alive in Iraq.
In the same context, researcher Muhammad Barakat said : Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the sadrist movement, is leading the battle to control the streets for electoral purposes and to prove the presence of fear of future changes that could upset the equations , especially since Iraq is on the brink of early parliamentary elections on October 10.
Barakat added : Al-Sadr is working with everything he has to confirm the presence of his movement to win the elections to acquire the Iraqi government, but Al-Kazemi represents all these parties, blocs and militias for the success of the Iraq elections … The international election monitoring step is a blow by Al-Kazemi to the Iraqi militias, given that it will monitor all violations by the Iranian-backed armed militia in Iraq.
For his part, Abdul-Hussain Al-Hindawi, an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, said : The role of the United Nations in the upcoming early parliamentary elections will be surveillance rather than supervision, this came in response to the leader of the rule of law coalition and former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who considered that bringing the elections under international control was very dangerous.
Al-Hindawi explained that the role of the United Nations in the elections is to monitor by evaluation and not to supervise, noting that is the Iraqis who manage the elections at all stages, indicating that the competent authority to take the decision to monitor the elections is the UN Security Council.
