ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States ambassador to Iraq on Tuesday said Iraqis should not resort to threats and instead peacefully form the new government.
“The Iraqi government and IHEC [Independent High Electoral Commission] deserve to be congratulated for holding an election largely in a peaceful atmosphere and adhering to processes that enable us to say that this was the most technically sound election that Iraq has held,”
Matthew Tueller said on a panel at the Middle East Research Institute (MERI) forum in Erbil, focused on global support for Iraq’s stability and state-building.
“Our call is for all people to first of all of course work to form a government and take the next steps in the same peaceful spirit that largely prevailed over the period of the election. There should not be resorts to threats or intimidation,” he added.
Iraq held elections earlier this month in response to 2019 protests railing against corruption and ineptitude among the ruling class and political system. Turnout was a record-low 41 percent, reflecting voter disillusionment and mistrust in the country’s political system.
“The Iraqi people want a parliament and a government that reflects the diversity of this remarkable country. And ultimately they want a government that will advance the interest of the state of Iraq and the Iraqi people, and for the United States I cannot imagine any better outcome than a government that meets those criteria,” said Tueller.
Other diplomats were also present at the conference.
“To us, Iraq is not a distant country. [...] The stability in Iraq has a direct impact on the situation in Germany,” Martin Jaeger, the German ambassador to Iraq, said.
The Canadian ambassador to Iraq said that working with women candidates is an area of interest for the country.
“Women and youth is clearly an area where programing in Canada has done in the past, working especially with women candidates so I suspect this will be an area that we will continue to work in,” Ambassador Ulric Shannon said.
IHEC announced official preliminary results last week. The Sadrist Movement, led by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, leads by a large margin, securing more than 70 seats and is expected to be the main force in forming the new government once the results are finalized.
Sadr has already claimed victory and designated a negotiation committee to begin discussions about the formation of the new government. On Sunday, he warned against foreign interference saying that Iraq will not accept meddling in its affairs, but will welcome political and economic cooperation.
Supporters of pro-Tehran militias within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic) are staging a sit-in near Baghdad’s Green Zone, demanding a recount or entire new election following the underperformance of their affiliated political parties. A spokesperson for Katiab Hezbollah, Abu Ali al-Askari, whose Huquq Movement ran in the vote, called the election the “biggest fraud.”
Shannon said that they faced issues a few years ago when trying to bring in international organizations but things have changed now.
“For us, we do not make decisions based on bilateral relations that don’t affect us directly. We make judgements based on the coherence of that effort, and we look for indicators that the government of Iraq is serious, that there is a general partnership there,” he said.
“We can talk about the fact that in 2019 and 2020… [when] we were met with incredible difficulties in getting NGO, international organizations to obtain basic permits to move between governorates for example. For whatever reason there was an attempt to impede their work. For us, that was an indicator that those lack of seriousness and lack of partnership there from the Iraqi side,” he added.
The ambassador said that they have overcome these issues, thanks to Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
Jaeger said they want to help Iraq in several sectors.
He said that Germany is currently re-evaluating its work in Iraq “in the sense to shift away from stabilization in the classical sense to infrastructure projects and all that."
The ambassador also said that Iraqi investors have shown interest in working with German companies.
“For us, we do not make decisions based on bilateral relations that don’t affect us directly. We make judgements based on the coherence of that effort, and we look for indicators that the government of Iraq is serious, that there is a general partnership there,” he said.
“We can talk about the fact that in 2019 and 2020… [when] we were met with incredible difficulties in getting NGO, international organizations to obtain basic permits to move between governorates for example. For whatever reason there was an attempt to impede their work. For us, that was an indicator that those lack of seriousness and lack of partnership there from the Iraqi side,” he added.
The ambassador said that they have overcome these issues, thanks to Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
Jaeger said they want to help Iraq in several sectors.
He said that Germany is currently re-evaluating its work in Iraq “in the sense to shift away from stabilization in the classical sense to infrastructure projects and all that."
The ambassador also said that Iraqi investors have shown interest in working with German companies.
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