U.S. offers to secure elections in three Sunni-dominated governorates in Iraq

Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – The London-based Al-Arab daily has uncovered a 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, namely Nineveh, Salahuddin and Anbar.

Quoting what it described as well-placed Iraqi sources, the paper said on Tuesday that the U.S. military made this request as it “fears that the current situation in Anbar and Mosul might affect the representation of Sunni groups in the parliament and government.”

The paper highlighted, “Pursuant to such estimates, the U.S. army offered to help Baghdad in securing polling days in Nineveh, Salahuddin and Anbar governorates, which have been recently liberated from Islamic State, but it said nothing about the plan it prepared to offer this assistance.”

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

“The U.S. just wants to make sure that the political process it drafted in the early years of its occupation of Iraq will continue since most of competing parties in elections have no platforms,” the paper quoted an observer as saying.

“The last three elections held in Iraq proved that such four-year electoral processes are mainly meant to legitimize the current political regime in Iraq, making the political parties know how to forge elections,” the observer noted.