Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has expressed his rejection of international oversight for the upcoming Iraqi elections.
In an interview with "Al-Sumaria News," Maliki stated, "Placing elections under international oversight is a very dangerous matter," emphasizing that "no country would accept international oversight of its elections," as it represents a "violation of national sovereignty." He expressed his agreement only for "monitoring."
Regarding the security of the electoral process, the former Iraqi Prime Minister insisted that "elections cannot be conducted without electoral security," asserting that "not holding elections is better than holding rigged ones." He expressed concerns about what he described as "the influence of uncontrolled weapons on the elections," which he referred to as "a battle," and affirmed that he would not allow what he termed "the duck" to intimidate people, just as he did not permit it in the past.
Maliki cited an example of fraud, saying, "There are more than one and a half million cards that can be voted with more than once during the polling." Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi had announced that early parliamentary elections will be held in 2021, having been initially scheduled for 2022, as part of fulfilling the promises made when he took office in May, following months of protests that forced his predecessor, Adel Abdul Mahdi, to resign.
