Nijaifi accuses Maliki of seeking to keep Sunnis away from local elections

(IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi parliament’s Speaker, Osama al-Nijaifi, leading figure within the Iraqiya Slate accused the Premier, Nouri al-Maliki of trying to exclude the Sunnis from the local elections and the parliamentary elections.

The Turkish Anatolia News Agency quoted Nijaifi as saying “Postponing the local elections in Anbar and Nineveh provinces is a project planned by Maliki to move away the Sunnis from the elections in general, starting from the next local elections.”

“The US Secretary of State, John Kerry advised, during his last visit to Baghdad, Iraq’s Sunnis not to withdraw from the upcoming local elections and the political process in general,” he added.

“We are partners in the political process since 2005,” Nijaifi added noting “So, we encourage the Sunnis to heavily participate in the coming elections as we have no alternative but to work within the constitution framework,” stressing “This was our response to Kerry.”