Iraq: The number of candidates excluded from the local elections increased to 255

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[size=52]Iraq: The number of candidates excluded from the local elections increased to 255[/size]

[size=45]The Independent High Electoral Commission in Iraq revealed today, Monday, that the number of candidates excluded from the electoral race for the provincial council elections (local governments), scheduled for the eighteenth of next December, has risen to 255 candidates, and said that the majority of them are linked to the Iraqi Baath Party. Banned in the country following the US invasion of the country in 2003.[/size]
[size=45]This comes less than one month after sources in the same commission confirmed to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that about 100 candidates had been excluded from the electoral race due to the emergence of their previous connections to the Baath Party, which the law stipulates excluding them from any activities in current politics in Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]Today, Monday, the head of the media team at the Independent High Electoral Commission in Iraq, Imad Jamil, confirmed in statements to reporters in Baghdad, “255 candidates were excluded from the electoral race for Iraqi provincial council seats, as of yesterday, Sunday.”[/size]
[size=45]According to him, 197 candidates were excluded by the “Accountability and Justice” Commission (the De-Baathification Commission), while 57 others were excluded due to criminal files, one candidate due to his involvement in corruption, and another due to his involvement in a terrorism file.[/size]
[size=45]He stressed that “a decision will be made during the current week on the files of candidates for the provincial council elections in Iraq scheduled to be held in December of this year.”[/size]
[size=45]The measure comes 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 Party from participation in political and governmental life, to the judiciary, so that the file is judicial, far from any political aspect, which is what the Sunni Arab political forces that It is considered that the file was used politically to a large extent.[/size]
[size=45]The eradication law was approved after the American invasion of Iraq in 2005, and was stipulated in the Iraqi constitution. Its impact resulted in the dismissal of tens of thousands of Iraqis from their jobs, the confiscation of the property of thousands of others, and the referral of a section to the judiciary. However, various political blocs continue to demand new activations in it and a guarantee of its effectiveness in the upcoming local elections. With the aim of what it calls preventing Baathists from reaching Parliament.[/size]
[size=45]The “De-Baathification Commission,” whose name was changed to the “Accountability and Justice Commission,” faces widespread accusations of selectivity in issuing exclusion or dismissal rulings from official institutions and departments, in response to pressure from influential forces at the political level.[/size]
[size=45]Iraq is scheduled to hold local elections on December 18, and these will be the first local elections held in Iraq since April 2013.[/size]
[size=45]The elected provincial councils are responsible for selecting the governor and the governorate’s executive officials, and they have the powers to dismiss, appoint, and approve the project plan according to the financial budget allocated to the governorate by the central government in Baghdad, in accordance with the Iraqi constitution.[/size]
[size=45]According to data from the Iraqi Election Commission, more than 23 million citizens are entitled to cast their votes in the Iraqi provincial council elections, including more than 10 million people who have updated their electoral records so far.[/size]
[size=45]She confirmed that 296 political parties organized into 50 alliances will participate in the elections, and the candidates are competing for 275 seats, the total number of Iraqi provincial council seats in general, 75 of which have been allocated within a quota for women and 10 seats for ethnic and religious minorities.[/size]
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