Campaigning begins for Iraq parliamentary election

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD (AA) – Iraqi politicians on Saturday officially began electoral campaigning for next month’s parliamentary election.

"Electoral campaign will continue until one day before the polls,” Riyad al-Badran of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) told Anadolu Agency.

He said the commission “will take all legal measures against those violating rules of electoral campaigning."

Campaigning for the May 12 vote had been scheduled to start last week, but was postponed due to a major Shia festival in Iraq.

A total of 24 million Iraqis are eligible to cast their ballots to elect members of parliament, who will in turn elect the Iraqi president and prime minister.

The polls are the first to be held since last year’s defeat of Daesh terrorist group after a three-day war, and the second since the U.S withdrawal from Iraq in 2011.

The vote is the fourth to be held in the Arab country since U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003.