ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s long-anticipated new election law will be put to a vote at parliament’s next session, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has said. “Kadhimi during his meeting with members of the electoral commission, ministers and security officials, announced an agreement was reached with the president Barham Salih and parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi to vote on the election law in the first upcoming parliamentary session,” the Iraqi PM’s media office tweeted on Thursday. The draft legislation is expected to be voted on before being sent to Iraq's president for approval. Kadhimi also stressed the need to avoid making the mistakes of past elections, and of restoring the “trust” of people in Iraq’s elections. “We need to cooperate with the United Nations to oversee the upcoming election process to be credible,” Kadhimi said during the meeting, according to Iraqi PM media office’s tweet on Thursday. Kadhimi also highlighted the need of hiring companies “credible and known for their integrity” to examine the elections process, and avoid the companies previously used. Iraq will hold a snap parliamentary election on June 6, 2021, Kadhimi announced in a televised statement in late July. The PM said that the election will take place with international monitoring and the government will ensure that security forces do not let anyone rig the election. Hussein al-Handawi, Iraqi Prime Minister’s advisor for election affairs told Rudaw TV late Thursday, “The period that is required to hold a snap election is between 6 to 7 months if the election law, the logistics and the presence of a trained electoral commission are available, indicating that preparations have started from now at all level.” “The electoral commission requested $250 million to hold the snap elections, but the government needs to reduce expenditures by two-thirds, indicating that the remaining time is sufficient to meet the requirements of the elections if there is a serious political will,” he added. Iraq’s electoral system, built after the US invasion of 2003, divides the country into its ethnic components, divvying up power among Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. One demand of protesters in late 2019 was to throw out the old political battle lines and create a technocratic government that serves all Iraqis. The last parliamentary election was held on May 12, 2018.
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