Iraq: Prominent Shia leader Al-Sadr warns of postponing early elections

Iraqi Shia leader and cleric Moqtada al-Sadr at the grand mosque of Kufa in the central Iraqi shrine city, some 160 kilometres south of the capital Baghdad, on 21 September 2018 [Haidar Hamdani/AFP/Getty Images]

Prominent Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr has warned of postponing early elections scheduled for 6 June and called on the Iraqi people to update their electoral records.

Head of Al-Sadr’s media office Haider Al-Jaber told reporters that “instigators of sedition” have called to cancel or postpone the early elections, adding that Al-Sadr warns against postponing the elections, and hopes that: “Everyone shows wisdom and works together for the success of these elections.”

“Al-Sadr supports the campaign led by the prime minister against corruption,” Al-Jaber explained, adding that all parties must support the campaign and refer the corrupt to the judiciary.

Last Saturday, Iraqi Minister of Culture Hassan Nazim confirmed the government’s desire to have international observers oversee the elections to ensure fairness.

Earlier, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi stressed his government’s determination to hold the early elections as scheduled on 6 June.

READ: Gunmen assassinate pro-Sadr military leader in Iraq

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.