Victory of secular and democratic forces in Iraqi elections
The International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ), comprised of 2,000 parliamentarians on both sides of the Atlantic, congratulates the Iraqi people for the victory of secular and democratic forces in Iraq in that country's parliamentary elections. The victory was achieved despite clear attempts of interference by the Iranian regime and its affiliated forces before, during and after the elections and in the course of the vote count, to deny secular and democratic forces victory.
The efforts by the Iraqi nationalist forces and international observers in exposing and preventing rigging contributed greatly to minimize fraud as well as in scaling down the Iranian regime’s efforts to influence election results.
It is quite understandable that after results were announced, the Iranian regime, and its affiliated forces, in particular Nouri al-Maliki, as the head of the Executive Branch, reacted angrily by rejecting the results and openly declaring that he did not accept the outcome.
There is hardly any doubt that were it not for the ballot stuffing and the disqualification of nationalist leaders such as Dr. Saleh Mutlak the margin of victory for nationalist forces would have been far greater and the defeat of the Iranian regime and its agents more disgraceful.
We must pay tribute to our esteemed colleague Mr. Struan Stevenson, President of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Iraq, for his outstanding and leading role. While many kept silence about the election fraud, he courageously exposed the many reports of irregularities in the elections and received extensive support and assistance from various Iraqi political parties and personalities representing different Iraqi political tendencies.
It is our sincere hope that Dr. Iyad Allawi, leader of the Al-Iraqiya coalition, will form his nationalist and secular government rapidly and put an end to Iraqi people’s problems and conflicts emanating from the Iranian regime’s meddling.
We also hope that in these circumstances the rights of Ashraf residents as political refugees and protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention will be formally recognized. The suppressive practices of Maliki’s government against Ashraf residents are a clear indication of the current government’s disregard of international standards.
We in ISJ and in the European Parliament wish to put our wherewithal at the disposal of an Iraqi nationalist, secular and truly democratic government.