Hakim: Postponing local elections to encourage officials to create crises

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, Ammar al-Hakim, warned from postponing the upcoming local elections in some provinces which witness unrests as this step would give the neglectful officials the pretext to create crises to keep on their posts.

During his speech at the weekly cultural symposium held in Baghdad on Wednesday, Hakim called to “Continue dialogue to resolve the controversial points over the federal budget of 2013.”

He considered “Ratification of the federal budget of 2013 important step that cannot be delayed,” noting that “The budget’s endorsement means the release of the service projects, stressing on the need to proceed the negotiations to agree on the central government’s obligations towards the oil companies working in Kurdistan Region as well as the Region’s obligations towards the central government.”