Maliki: Constitution is the only recourse, elections guarantee Iraq unity

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Thursday said that the constitution is the only recourse and elections are a strong guarantee for the “unity and sovereignty of our country,” noting “today’s Iraq is not that one of yesterday”. “The constitution governs us and we have to tame ourselves to accept the constitution and law,” Maliki said in a speech he delivered to a rally of Baghdad local residents as part of the election campaign of his Dawlat al-Qanoon coalition on Thursday (Jan. 29). “Elections would guarantee the unity, sovereignty, power sharing and elimination of sectarianism,” he added, noting that the power of Iraq “is not with its military might and aggression on neighbors but rather with its internal unity”. Maliki’s Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law) coalition, which enters the provincial council elections scheduled to be held on Saturday (Jan. 31), encompasses his Islamic Dawa Party, the Dawa Party – Iraq Organization, the Islamic Solidarity List, Feyli Kurds, the Islamic Union for Iraqi Turkmen and the Mustaqiloon (Independents) bloc. “Our message is that Iraq of today is not that one of yesterday,” the Iraqi premier pointed out. He said that maintaining security in Iraq is more costly than achieving victory. AmR (P) 1