BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi has launched an online appeal for allies to join his list of candidates for elections scheduled for May 12.
The initiative is a first for Iraq, ahead of its fourth parliamentary and provincial assembly elections since the ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein in a US-led 2003 invasion.
The direct appeal, which requires any prospective candidate to collect 500 signatures of support, bypasses Iraq’s traditional route of selection by political parties, clans or tribes.
In public shows of disaffection with the political system, protests are staged weekly across Iraq against corruption, cronyism and the failure of authorities to provide basic services.
Abadi vows in his election manifesto to lead a list of candidates that rises above the country’s sectarian divisions and is not standing under the banner of his Dawa party.
He says his online appeal was in response to “the popular demand for the selection of the most effective and best candidates,” and that it would “enlarge public participation.”
Successful candidates would need to be aged at least 30, clear of any criminal record and have completed secondary or higher education.
On Sunday, Abadi announced plans to stand for re-election at the head of a new list separate from key rival and Dawa party fellow member Nuri Al-Maliki.
His “Victory Alliance” would be a “cross-sectarian” list aimed at overcoming divisions and battling inequalities in the country, the 65-year-old prime minister said.
Abadi declared victory in December in the more than three-year war to expel Daesh from the vast areas of Iraq it seized in 2014.
Arab candidates, many of whose constituents were displaced by the battles, have appealed for the election date to be pushed back to December.
Iraq PM seeks allies online to join election list
Iraq PM seeks allies online to join election list
Palestinian VP meets diplomat expected to serve on Trump’s Gaza peace board
- Media reports say he is expected to serve as the representative on the ground in Gaza for the Board of Peace
- Sheikh said that during his meeting with Mladenov, “an in-depth discussion took place on all political and field developments in the Palestinian territories“
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Palestinian vice president Hussein Al-Sheikh met on Friday with former UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov, who is expected to head the US-backed Board of Peace in Gaza.
The meeting in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah comes a day after Mladenov held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and met with President Isaac Herzog.
Bulgarian diplomat Mladenov served as the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process from early 2015 until the end of 2020.
Media reports say he is expected to serve as the representative on the ground in Gaza for the Board of Peace — a transitional body for the war-battered Palestinian territory which US President Donald Trump would theoretically chair.
In a statement on X, Sheikh said that during his meeting with Mladenov, “an in-depth discussion took place on all political and field developments in the Palestinian territories.”
He added there was “a focus on the situation in the Gaza Strip, means of transitioning to the second phase (of the ceasefire), mechanisms for implementing the US President Donald Trump’s plan, and UN Security Council Resolution 2803.”
That UN Security Council resolution endorsed the Trump plan in November.
Under Trump’s 20-point plan, Gaza will be governed by a temporary transitional technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee, under the oversight and supervision of the Board of Peace.
Under the second stage of the fragile ceasefire that came into effect in October, Israel is supposed to gradually withdraw from its positions in Gaza, while Hamas is supposed to lay down its weapons.
An international stabilization force is also to be deployed.
But talks to bring about the second phase stalled after Israel accused Hamas of delaying the return of the last hostage in its custody.
Netanyahu met with Mladenov in Jerusalem on Thursday and “reiterated that Hamas must be disarmed and the Gaza Strip must be demilitarised,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
It said that Mladenov “is set to become the Director of the Gaza Strip Board of Peace.”
Herzog also met with Mladenov on Thursday, a spokesman from his office said, without providing details.
US media outlet Axios has reported that Trump is expected to announce the Board of Peace next week and that it would include around 15 world leaders.
“Among the countries expected to join the board are the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye,” Axios reported.
Some White House officials fear both Israel and Hamas are slow-walking the second stage of the ceasefire, with each side alleging frequent ceasefire violations.
