BAGHDAD, Iraq— Iraqi protesters gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on Friday, as they have done nearly every Friday after prayers over the past month, to demand the dissolution of the Iraqi High Electoral Commission (IHEC) while the country prepares for crucial parliamentary and provincial elections in April.
The demonstrators, many of them ardent supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, have called on the parliament to dissolve the IHEC which they have accused of corruption and partisanship.
Rudaw reporter in Baghdad Bahman Hassan said many of the angry protesters also demanded the dissolution of all three branches of government, the Presidency, the Parliament and the Cabinet, before the elections to preserve what they call “the transparency of polls.”
“They demanded the creation of a “national rescue government” and a completely new electoral commission whose members should be independent and non-partisan and also demanded the amendment of the election law,” Hassan said.
The IHEC which is seen as an independent polling body, has members that are affiliated with nearly all political parties across the Iraqi spectrum, including several Kurdish members. Sadr has in the past cast doubt on the independence of the commission and stated that “no election are free and fair under the current IHEC.”
Angry rioters in Baghdad warned they would storm the office of the IHEC if the commission was not reshuffled, a threat that prompted the government to tighten the security around the IHEC complex in the Iraqi capital last week.
The United Nations has shown solid support for the IHEC in the past and reiterated its position last week after protesters marched towards the commission office.
“The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, Ján Kubiš, held a meeting with the IHEC and voiced the UN’s continuous support for its employees, as well as to the council of commissioners,” said an official statement from the UN issued on February 14.
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