Iraq to run municipal and parliamentary elections jointly in April
Iraqi parliament.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraq will run municipal elections in April coinciding with parliamentary elections based on amendments voted for in the parliament on Monday.
“A majority of MPs voted today to conduct local elections — initially slated for September — at the same time as next April’s parliamentary polls,” Abbas al-Bayati, an MP for Iraq’s Shia National Alliance bloc, told Anadolu Agency.
The formation of the commission supervising the elections, as well as the system adopted for the polls had sparked protests in Baghdad led by Shia cleric and militancy leader Muqtada al-Sadr over the past months.
Sadr and his fans had decried what they described as corruption, the imbalanced formation of the commission and the unfair electoral system.
The elections are coming as Iraq nears removal of the last Islamic State havens in the country, having marked the biggest victory retaking the militants’ largest stronghold and former capital: Mosul.