Hujjat al-Islam Ammar al-Hakim:

We must lift the third amendment to the electoral law

Rasa – The head of Iraq’s National Wisdom Movement called for the reinstatement of the judiciary in order to solve the country’s electoral problems and also called for a manual recount of 10% of the votes and the lifting of the third amendment to the electoral law.

News ID: 438292

Date: 19 June 2018 - 20:56

RNA – During his Eid al-Fitr sermon on Saturday, Hujjat al-Islam Sayyid Ammar al-Hakim, the head of the National Wisdom Movement, strongly criticized the actions of a number of Iraqi parliamentarians, who are generally from the incoming representatives in the new parliament, due to the third amendment to the electoral law.

While urging the federal court to announce its position on the third amendment and quickly respond to complaints against the amendment, the head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq warned that “such measures would eradicate the trust of the people and political forces in the judiciary and discredit them without regaining confidence in the electoral process and this will double the damage itself.”

He said the electoral process was accompanied by numerous complaints and allegations and political figures were divided into two categories. Some are supporters of the electoral process and its outcome and some are issuing treats and calling for an end and inclusive reconsideration so that far as some call for the revocation of the election.

“The parliament also held an extraordinary meeting with some members, most of whom did not win in the elections. The parliament made a third amendment on the election law that the lawfulness of the amendment was a matter of doubt and in continuation, took surprising and completely biased steps and added to its complexity instead of solving the problem,” he said.

According to Hujjat al-Islam al-Hakim, “The introduction of a judiciary into an executive role in the electoral process and removing it from its supervisory role will undermine the independence of the judiciary and if the judge turns himself to one side of the dispute, then in who else can someone take refuge?”

The Iraqi politician and cleric said that everyone must know that the loss of the country and the collapse of the political system and an entry into a legal vacuum and a dark path will make winning and losing meaningless in the electoral process. Some want to hang democracy with a deceptive rope and sometimes with political fire.

His Eminence said, “I want the federal tribunal to end the current crisis and quickly address complaints against the third amendment in the electoral law of the country and issue a ruling and order on this matter so that the affairs will return to their natural and legal procedure.”

Hujjat al-Islam al-Hakim said that in order to solve the current problems in the electoral process, three proposals were made, including (1) the lifting of the third amendment to the electoral law in the federal court, (2) reviewing 10% of the electoral districts (which are subject to complaints) and matching the results of the manual recalculation of those votes with the previously announced results that (if more than 25% are divergent, the whole constituency would be recounted), and (3) the accountability of all those who questioned the transparency of the recent election.

He argued that political negotiations and the formation of a government cannot be achieved in a climate of distrust or political retaliation or attempting to obtain personal, party, ethnic or religious privileges, which requires mutual trust and political understanding, and preferring national interests to other interests.

“We still believe that the majority vote of the nation is a real and acceptable strategy to some of the problems of the political system,” he added.

He said we must not return to the old equations and, at the same time, we were expecting a better result. Religious or ethnic alignment cannot lead to the establishment of a national government and on the other hand, it will also satisfy the people.

Hujjat al-Islam al-Hakim called for the formation of a cabinet of experts and technocrats (whether independent or political) capable of responding to the demands of the people. In the shadow of the national majority, it could form the larger fraction and solve domestic and foreign policy problems.

Rasa News Agency

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