Abadi calls for the date of early elections .. "UNAMI": must stop the killing in Iraq

Abadi calls for the date of early elections .. "UNAMI": must stop the killing in Iraq



2019-10-05 11:12:33
 
Former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday called on political leaders to set a first date for early legislative elections in Iraq to end the crisis of bloody demonstrations that entered its fifth consecutive day.

Abadi said in a statement issued by his office today that "the government has lost the capacity to run the government, I ask the country's leaders to set an initial date for early elections."

"Ensuring free and fair elections with broad public participation is a testament to the seriousness of the political forces to respond to the calls for reform demanded by the people," he said.

In the meantime, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Iraq called for an end to the continuous killing of demonstrators in the country through live bullets.

"I am deeply saddened by the unjustified loss of life," she said. "Five days ago, reports of deaths and injuries were reported: this must stop."

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq called on "all parties to stop and think, and those responsible for violence must be held accountable."

Protests intensified Saturday evening in Baghdad and the provinces of Dhi Qar and Diwaniya, security forces continued to fire live bullets at the protesters.

Baghdad and a number of other Shi'ite-dominated provinces are witnessing bloody demonstrations sparked on Tuesday. According to the latest toll, more than 100 demonstrators were shot dead by security forces.

These demonstrations are the most violent since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003 and so far, where thousands of protests took place in protests demanding the provision of services, improve the living conditions, provide jobs for the unemployed, and eliminate the phenomena of widespread unemployment in the society, and financial and administrative corruption rampant in state departments and institutions .

Sadr's leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, called on Friday for the resignation of the government headed by Adel Abdul-Mahdi, a right to Iraqi blood, and went ahead with early elections under the supervision of the United Nations.

The office of Iraq's top cleric, Ali al-Sistani, called on the three authorities in Iraq to take steps leading to "real" reform, in a statement read out by his representative on the protests in Iraq.

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