Shkoi Kurdistan-
The Iraqi prime minister’s advisor for elections affairs, Abdul-Hussein al-Hindawi, said two international teams will be monitoring the upcoming early elections in Iraq, state media reported on Friday.
Hindawi stated the first group will be the main team and will include monitors selected by the United Nations. The second will be composed of countries who wish to send international observers to Iraq, such as the European Union or the Arab League.
“The government is in the process of holding discussions with the United Nations regarding the size of the team and the areas of its work,” the advisor said. “Things are moving toward holding elections on the scheduled date of October 10.”
Hindawi revealed the government has formed a higher committee for elections, consisting of all relevant ministries, financial bodies and intelligence agencies, in addition to the Iraqi High Electoral Commission, to follow up on the election process.
Earlier in May, British ambassador Stephen Hickey said Iraq will not be able to hold “fair and transparent elections” without protection for activists, who continue to be killed and threatened by Iran-backed militias.
The United Nations has previously confirmed its supervisory role in the upcoming elections. France and Germany have donated millions to the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) for its work on the elections.
“Observation is the mildest form of international presence in Iraq to see what is happening on election day. This is exactly what the Iraqi government asked the Security Council,” UNAMI head Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in a press conference late January.
Early elections were one of the demands of protests that began in October 2019 across central and southern Iraq. However, after assassinations, kidnappings, threats, and violence, activists are calling for a postponement until Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government ends the impunity they say assassins are enjoying.
