The Arabic-language website Al-Khanadiq published an article about the early parliamentary elections in Iraq, which are scheduled to start tomorrow, Sunday. “Early parliamentary elections have put Iraq in front of a crucial event and milestone,” the site said in a statement.
According to the report, the base also states in its article: Yesterday, the first round of the early parliamentary elections in Iraq was held. At this stage, special groups, including the military and security forces, prisoners and displaced people, cast their ballots. The Iraqi High Electoral Commission recently announced that more than one million military and security forces are eligible to run in the elections.
Al-Khanadiq also stated: “Finally, the first round of the crucial Iraqi parliamentary elections ended yesterday evening and it was announced that 69% of the eligible voters participated in the elections.” The first round of early parliamentary elections did not pose any security problems. What we are witnessing today is that some media outlets are beating the drum to reduce their participation in the parliamentary elections.
“The point to consider is that the Saudi and US-affiliated media are talking about declining participation in areas where the main supporters of the popular uprising are present,” the Arabic-language website continued. Needless to say, the Iraqi people will respond to the call of the authorities for a large turnout in the elections, and on Sunday they will show a favorable turnout in the early parliamentary elections.
Al-Khanadiq also stressed that the issue of the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq is a non-negotiable issue. The Iraqi people are expected to express their views on this issue with their votes to the representatives of the United States of America. The Iraqi people expect the next government to expel foreign troops, including US troops, from the country.
The Iraqi High Electoral Commission (SEC) issued a statement on Saturday announcing the beginning of electoral silence throughout the country from this morning. Early parliamentary elections will be held tomorrow, Sunday.
Afterwards, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi tweeted about the special voting process for the military and security forces in the parliamentary elections. The Iraqi Prime Minister said in this regard: The election process for the military and security forces was completed successfully. Al-Kadhimi added: “The first step of the elections has been firmly taken and this process will be completed with the broad participation of the Iraqi people in order to fulfill their national duty.”
Earlier, Mehr News Agency published a report on “foreign actors’ interference” in the Iraqi election scene. The fact is that the propaganda attacks of the media affiliated with some countries in the Arab world against the Iraqi parliamentary elections have not stopped yet. The media hopes that in the run-up to the elections, they will be able to prevent the Iraqi people from going to the polls. For example, we can mention Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath channels, which in recent days have devoted most of their programs to economic problems in Iraq!
It is natural that the main purpose of the networks affiliated with the Saudi court in dealing with the economic issues of Iraq is to create a wave of despair in the ranks of the people, so that they refuse to participate in the elections. Efforts by the Saudi media to influence the Iraqi parliamentary election process came to a head after Riyadh’s support for the remnants of ISIS elements on the Iraqi border to destabilize the political and security environment in the run-up to the elections failed.
In the meantime, it should not be overlooked that the United States also has priorities in Iraq. The Americans do not want their security cooperation with Baghdad to change. Therefore, the United States wants to continue military and security cooperation with the future Iraqi government as in the past. “The United States is well aware that even after the Iraqi parliamentary elections, it faces a major challenge, and that is military strikes on Washington’s interests in Baghdad,” the Al-Khanadiq Arabic-language website wrote.
Accordingly, American politicians are now keenly watching the outcome of Iraq’s parliamentary elections, knowing full well that any continued military presence on Iraqi soil will depend on an agreement with the next Iraqi government.
