Antichrist Calls For New Government

Rudaw

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region— Head of the Independent High Electoral Commission in Iraq (IHEC) says the parliament’s decision to question him over alleged misuse of power are politically motivated and without legal bases.

Sarbast Amedi told Rudaw he will attend the parliament’s questioning session on April 17, but he warned that the move was to harm the standing of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) which nominated Amedi for the post.

“The Commission is basically the only important post that the KDP still holds. As an independent candidate, I was appointed as part of the KDP share of the seats [in the commission]. This is why they want to target this post,” he said.

The IHEC which is seen as an independent polling body, has members that are affiliated with nearly all political parties in Iraq, including several Kurdish members.

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has in the past cast doubt on the independence of the commission and stated that “no elections are free and fair under the current IHEC.”

The United Nations however has shown solid support for the IHEC in the past and reiterated its position after protesters marched towards the commission office in February this year.

Iraqi protesters have gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square nearly all Fridays after prayers over the past months, to demand the dissolution of the IHEC while the country prepares for crucial parliamentary and provincial elections .

The demonstrators, many of them ardent supporters of al-Sadr, have called on the parliament to dissolve the IHEC which they have accused of corruption and partisanship.

Lawmaker Rasoul al-Taei of Al-Ahrar block affiliated with al-Sadr said in a statement last July that “the MPs who signed the request are collecting evidence and documents for dossiers to prove [individual] corruption and that the commission’s head and council members are not professional [experts].”

He also said “this cannot overlook the possibility that the commission’s council members are subordinate to well-established political parties, based on which the commission’s executive council was formed.”

No official charges have so been filed against Amedi.