Iraq’s leaders pushed to postpone parliamentary elections fearing public discontent would lead to their removal from power, an analyst with ties to the government says.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, President Barham Salih, and Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad al-Halbusi wanted a later vote over concerns about their prospects for re-election and sought to buy time, said Mohammad Bakhtiar, a Kurdish political analyst who meets regularly with Iraqi decision-makers.
“At least two of the three leaders of Iraq who favoured early election have realised that their chances of being re-elected are minimal,” Bakhtiar said.
In a bid to delay the elections, the three Iraqi leaders met on January 12 and later with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and election commission officials, he told Al Jazeera.
After a request from Iraq’s Independent High Election Commission (IHEC), the government last week announced the postponement of the country’s elections from June 6 to October 10.
Bakhtiar said it was unlikely the vote would take place in October and suggested May 2022 was more likely.
But a source close to the Iraqi government said the October date for the election will hold. “There are no formal intentions to postpone the elections in October since such a step is very difficult legally and politically,” he told Al Jazeera.
But he added: “If Iraq witnesses very tense situations – for example, protesters take to the streets, assassinations resume, or military escalations happen within Iraq – then holding the elections would be impossible.”
