Iraq: Threats and withdrawal of candidates from local elections

POSTED ON[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] BY [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[size=52]Iraq: Threats and withdrawal of candidates from local elections[/size]

[size=45]Observers and candidates for the local elections (provincial councils), scheduled to be held on December 18, point to security, political, and social problems facing the candidates, some of which prompt them to withdraw from the election race, and others related to the use of political influence to force others to withdraw.[/size]
[size=45]This is happening in light of the growing feeling of popular dissatisfaction in Iraq regarding the use of political money to buy votes, and the start of electoral propaganda before its legal date. The past weeks have witnessed the withdrawal of a number of candidates due to threats to their lives and those close to them.[/size]
[size=45]Prominent parties in the Iraqi civil movement state that the political money and weapons possessed by the parties and armed factions will only result in the victory of the traditional parties in the upcoming elections, and therefore participation in them will be of no benefit, while activists find that it establishes a new state of sharing power and wealth between... Parties.[/size]
[size=45]Withdrawal of civil forces from the elections.
This matter prompted a number of civilian political forces to withdraw from participating in the elections. Moreover, the exposure of candidates who chose to continue participating in the elections to systematic harassment and several accusations, including belonging to the “Baath” Party and “association with foreign embassies,” led some of them to withdraw and choose to return to political theorizing and to participate in social and protest activities.[/size]
[size=45]A leader in the Iraqi “Al-Waad” Party, a new civil party, says, “The Election Commission excluded one of the party’s candidates because he received an honor from the head of the former regime, Saddam Hussein, knowing that the honor was not political, but rather for excelling in studies, when he was The candidate’s age must not exceed 15 years.”[/size]
[size=45]He explained to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “targeting civilian and liberal candidates is a strategy that the parties of power and traditionalists have deliberately followed in the face of civilian supremacy and increasing its audience.”[/size]
[size=45]The leader adds, “The exclusion and exclusion decisions targeted civilians more than others, and these measures are usually justified by the fact that the candidates did not meet the conditions for candidacy, and this is not true, because some of the excluded candidates are specialists in law, and they did not neglect any of the conditions for candidacy.” He confirms that “there is political targeting of civil parties and candidates who chose to enter political action through the portal of popular protests.”[/size]
[size=45]A female candidate withdrew after being exposed to threats.
Last Sunday, the candidate for the “Al-Azm” coalition in Diyala Governorate, Zeina Al-Salhi, announced her withdrawal from competing in the local elections in the governorate, confirming that she had been subjected to threats.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Salhi says, in a statement, “The corrupt people lost their sanity and humanity, and they fought me with the most precious thing I have in this world, as their threats reached my children.” They even threatened to kill my son if I continued to run for elections, and indeed an attempt was made to kidnap him, had it not been for the kindness of God.”[/size]
[size=45]She added: “I announce my withdrawal from the electoral race, and you have absolute freedom to elect whomever you deem appropriate to represent you. I hope that a day will come when we can freely exercise our democratic right to nominate and elect without pressure and threats.”
Nineveh Governorate also recorded the withdrawal of an independent candidate from the city of Tal Afar from the elections, called Muhammad al-Mawla, whose electoral district is witnessing an accumulation of lists affiliated with several armed factions.[/size]
[size=45]Exclusion of candidates included in the uprooting of the “Baath” Party.
Iraqi political sources in Baghdad previously reported that the Election Commission excluded about 100 candidates for the local elections scheduled for next December, after they were included in the procedures to uproot the Iraqi “Baath” Party.[/size]
[size=45]This measure came in contradiction to promises made by Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, to transfer the procedures of the “Accountability and Justice” Commission, related to excluding members of the “Baath” from participating in political and governmental life, to the judiciary, so that the file would be far from any political side, which is what the Arab political forces are requesting. Sunni Islam believes that the file has been used politically to a large extent.[/size]
[size=45]Dishonest electoral competition
For his part, the candidate for the local elections in Baghdad, Wael Al-Baroud, points out that “political money, the power of weapons, and the absence of the law made electoral competition by traditional parties dishonest, to the point where they threatened to kill the candidates, or kill their families, and kill everyone who He is trying to reach the source of the decision, especially in governorates controlled by armed parties, such as Diyala.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Baroud confirmed to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “Diyala is witnessing a state of restrictions on anyone who does not belong to the armed forces, or opposes the ideas of these forces.”[/size]
[size=45]He considers that “this method does not build a peaceful and strong state, nor does it bring about the change that the Iraqi people demand. Rather, it increases the cases of exclusion, political oppression, and moral killing of all good cases that believe in changing the governance system.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Baroud adds, “Violent behavior with civilian candidates pushes civil forces to withdraw from the elections, reposition the civil movement, think about radical solutions, and demand early elections under the rule of law and whose goal is to rebuild Iraq.”[/size]
[size=45]An expected failure of the local elections
. In turn, political analyst Maher Joudah points out that “the withdrawal of the candidates due to threats and blackmail regarding the election file represents a clear case of failure of the country’s governance system on the one hand, and an expected failure of the upcoming local elections on the other hand, and the shape of the results has become clear, especially with the withdrawal of the movement.” Al-Sadr and the civil forces, and therefore we are facing a crisis regarding the legitimacy and legality of this process.”[/size]
[size=45]In an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Joudeh believes that “the forces of power, specifically those that control the state’s funds, its official departments, and important and senior positions, seek to exploit everything to their advantage, and that the parties that have armed wings practice intimidation in various forms.” He explains that “the upcoming local elections lost their balance early, especially with the absence of important components of the political process.”[/size]
[size=45]Political circles expect that the upcoming local elections will be the least participatory, especially with the growing feeling of their futility, and that they will not result in any change in the level of services provided, or keep the large parties from disposing of government resources. Consequently, this makes the electoral race between the ruling political forces alone, without the legitimacy of the presence of the popular, protest and reform forces, according to observers.[/size]
[size=45]The Iraqi provincial council elections will be held according to the “Saint-Lego” method, which relies on dividing the coalition votes by the electoral divisor of 1.7, which makes the fortunes of large political entities rise at the expense of individual candidates (independent and civilian), as well as emerging and small entities.[/size]
[size=45]The elected provincial councils are responsible for selecting the governor and the governorate’s executive officials, and have the powers of dismissal and appointment, and approving the project plan according to the financial budget allocated to the governorate by the central government in Baghdad, in accordance with the Iraqi constitution. These will be the first local elections held in Iraq since April 2013.[/size]
[size=45][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]