Iraq's electoral commission proposes to postpone polls to Nov

Baghdad, Jan 18 The Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) has suggested to postpone the early parliamentary polls slated for June 6 to November 16, state media reported.

On Sunday Jalil Adnan Khalaf, Chairman of IHEC's Board of Commissioners, said the proposal was made after reviewing the timetable for the electoral process in consultation by the UN, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA) which also published an official letter from the IHEC sent to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi.

Khalaf attributed the postponement to registering a small number of coalitions, and the need to give more time to register more candidates and coalitions, in addition to allowing the UN experts and observers to take their role in monitoring the electoral process, Xinhua news agency reported citing the letter as saying.

Last July, al-Kadhimi set June 6, 2021, as the date for the early elections, which came in response to the anti-government protests and was designed to make it easier for independent politic to win a seat in the parliament.

The previous parliamentary elections in Iraq were held on May 12, 2018, and the next polls were originally scheduled to take place in 2022.

( With inputs from IANS )