Hakim rejects calls for early elections

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The head of the Iraqi Islamic Council Ammar al-Hakim rejected conducting early elections in the country, calling the Premier to start communications with all political sides to settle the current crisis.

During a celebration held in his office in Baghdad on Wednesday, he said “The calls for conducting early elections do not represent a realistic settlement for the current crisis although the early elections will benefit the SIIC but we look for the benefit of the Iraqi People first.”

“The absence of accordance among the blocs also hinders conducting these elections,” he added.

Hakim called the Premier Nouri al-Maliki to have the initiative of starting communications with all political sides to reduce the effect of the disputes on the political arena, noting that “This initiative will be recorded in his political history as the owner of the initiative that helped to return the Iraqi political process to the right path.”
As politicians, we do not have any other option but approaching each other and neglect disputes through setting the general interests above the personal interests, according to Hakim.

The head of the SIIC also criticized the calls for withdrawing confidence from the Premier Nouri al-Maliki, stressing that “Dialogue among the political rivals is the only way out of the current crisis which is the most serious crisis in the history of new Iraq.”