Iraq: Fears of assassinations and exploitation of state resources in local elections

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[size=52]Iraq: Fears of assassinations and exploitation of state resources in local elections[/size]

[size=45]Despite the calm and relative security stability witnessed by most Iraqi governorates compared to previous years, in which 5 parliamentary sessions and 3 local sessions took place, there are fears of assassinations occurring against opponents and competitors in the local elections scheduled to be held on December 18, in addition to exploiting... State resources are matters that are not unlikely to happen in the eyes of observers, given that events of this kind occurred in most of the previous electoral rounds, both parliamentary and local.[/size]
[size=45]In the third general elections in 2014, at least 15 candidates from different lists were assassinated, and similar events occurred in other sessions. Hence, the possibility of assassinations of candidates exists, especially after the candidate in the “Al-Basas” coalition for the Diyala Provincial Council, Zeina Hafez Al-Salhi, announced last Monday her withdrawal from running in the elections, due to threats she received and before the final approval of the names of the candidates, and this is related to By liquidating her son if she continues to run.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Salhi said, in a statement she posted on her Facebook platform: “My dear brothers, you who stood by my side in the darkest of circumstances, I thank you from the heart. Your strikes hurt the corrupt and made them lose their sanity and humanity, and they fought me with the dearest thing I have in this world.” She added: “Their threats have reached the point of my children’s lives, and all of this was before the names of the candidates were approved and before the start of the electoral race. They reached the point of threatening to kill my son if I continued to run in the elections, and indeed an attempt was made to kidnap him had it not been for the kindness of God.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Salhi concluded by saying: “My dear friends, I thank you for standing with me, and I announce my withdrawal from the electoral race. You have absolute freedom to elect whomever you deem appropriate to represent you, and I hope that the day will come when we can freely exercise our democratic right to nominate and elect without pressure and threats.”[/size]
[size=45]Security of the electoral process:
In turn, the spokeswoman for the High Electoral Commission, Jumana Al-Ghalai, said, “The Higher Security Committee of the High Electoral Commission is responsible for the security of the entire electoral process, but we did not receive a specific complaint from the withdrawing candidate, nor did we receive any similar complaint from other candidates.”[/size]
[size=45]Regarding the fact that some lists and alliances announce their electoral serial numbers before starting the electoral campaigns decided by the Commission, Al-Ghalai stated in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, “If it is proven that the candidate or coalition announced the number of his electoral list, and a complaint against him reaches the Commission, it will do its part.” By taking the necessary measures and penalties against him.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Ghalai added, “Electoral campaigns will begin after the final approval of the lists of candidates and verification of their eligibility. It is expected that the approval will be at the end of this month or the beginning of next month, after which the launch of the campaigns will be announced, provided that they stop 24 hours before the start of voting.”[/size]
[size=45]Political assassinations
For his part, member of the Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee, Salah Zaini Al-Tamimi, warned of what he described as “political assassinations.” Al-Tamimi said in previous statements, “Elections are the spirit of democracy that gives all segments of the people the right to vote and choose their representatives in the provincial councils, but some forces do not understand its meaning, and they fear loss, so they push toward political assassinations in an attempt to intimidate competitors.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "The attempt to assassinate one of the leaders of the Iraqi Al-Basas coalition in Diyala is a political assassination, and we are pressing to find out who is behind it and bring him to the Iraqi judiciary." Repeated political assassinations will have serious harm to the electoral process and spark popular anger that cannot be contained.”[/size]
[size=45]In addition to fears of liquidations and assassinations of candidates, most new candidates fear that the dominant powers and parties will invest state resources in persuading voters to vote for them. These fears have been persistent and realistic for many years, as senior officials have, in more than a few cases, exploited state resources to promote their electoral campaigns.[/size]
[size=45]A few days ago, the “Al-Nour” organization concerned with election affairs spoke about “political forces that pre-empted the electoral campaigns by exploiting the resources of the state and government departments for electoral purposes and harnessing them for early propaganda, including paving services, electricity, and service files that are far from their jurisdiction and authority.”[/size]
[size=45]The organization stated in press statements that “80 percent of electoral campaigns in Diyala are funded by public money, which makes their owners the most likely to win seats in the provincial council, regardless of competition with other forces.”[/size]
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