Iraq comments on U.S. offer to secure elections, says “our responsibility”

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s office has said that securing the upcoming elections that will take place at all Iraqi cities is a responsibility of both the military and local police.

This came in response to new reports that tackled a proposal by Washington over securing the upcoming local and legislative elections at each of Anbar, Salahuddin and Nineveh fearing fraud there.

Speaking to Baghdad Today website on Tuesday, Saad al-Hadithi, spokesperson of Abadi’s office, said, “the mission of protecting the security situation across Iraq, supervising of the elections and security the elections day is the responsibility of Iraqi security troops.”

“The coming elections will be secured with government supervision, while Iraqi security troops will take charge of protection on the balloting day,” Hadithi said stressing that “no foreign forces will have any role.

Earlier on the day, news reports unveiled proposal put forward by the U.S. army to let American soldiers secure parliamentary and provincial elections, slated for May, just in three Sunni-dominated governorates.

However, some commentators believe that any assistance to be provided by the U.S. army for securing Iraqi elections will be limited as many of Iraqi political parties are now notorious for forging elections.

The Iraqi parliament approved, earlier this month, holding the legislative elections as scheduled on May 12. The parliament said holding the legislative elections of the chamber has become obligatory after the federal court decreed holding the elections on the scheduled time.