BAGHDAD — The European Union and United Nations will deploy observers
to monitor Iraq's parliamentary election next month, saying Tuesday they hope
voting will not be tainted by fraud and abstention.
اضافة اعلان
"Our purpose is to do whatever we can in order that the electoral
process be as good as possible," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
told a news conference in Baghdad.
He said the EU observer mission for the October 10 election would be in Iraq
a month before polling day and would stay for another month afterwards.
The UN's top representative in Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, told a
separate news conference the world body would also deploy a large monitoring
team.
"In fact this is one of the UN's largest electoral assistance projects
worldwide with five times as many UN personnel as in 2018," she said.
Hennis-Plasschaert urged Iraqis not to boycott the vote, which she hoped
would be "credible", and called on "political forces and
candidates to collectively refrain from any attempt to force or distort
election resources."
Past elections in Iraq have been marred by violence and vote-buying.
In the most recent legislative election in 2018, the turnout was 44.52
percent, an official figure that many believe was inflated.
Calls to boycott the vote have increased as the election draws closer,
especially among young people who accuse political parties in Iraq of covering
up and even encouraging political violence.
Borrell said that everyone in the country demands elections, "but when
we organize elections, the people say that elections are not good."
"Our focus is try to help the electoral process be as good as
possible," he said.
Iraqi political scientist Saleh al-Alaoui told AFP to expect a low turnout —
"not exceeding 20 percent".
He said this would be "a consequence" of the protests that swept
Iraq in October 2019 against corruption, foreign interference, poor public
services and the stranglehold the main political parties have on the country.
An early general election was one of the promises made by Prime Minister
Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to try to meet the demands of the demonstrators.
A new electoral law also came into force last year, its aim being to break
the monopoly held by blocs of parties that share power, and promote independent
candidates instead.
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