Baghdad The President of the Republic, Barham Salih, stressed that the upcoming elections are important for Iraqis, and the utmost integrity must be ensured in order to gain credibility and legitimacy.

During his meeting with the Head of the European Union Election Observation Mission, Viola von Cramon, Barham said that the upcoming elections are important for the country and Iraqis, stressing the need to ensure the utmost integrity and justice, and to gain credibility and legitimacy, pointing out the importance of securing the right to vote for voters freely and without restrictions, pressure or manipulation to be its outputs truly express the will of the Iraqis.

He added that the electoral code of conduct presented by the Presidency of the Republic and approved by the political forces, stresses the necessity of respecting legal regulations, creating a safe and stable environment for elections, ensuring equal opportunities for candidates, adhering to the instructions of the Electoral Commission, and preventing negative phenomena that affect the electoral process from using political money, fraud, and manipulation of Iraqi votes.

He praised the efforts of the European Union in supporting the electoral process, adding that local and international monitoring organizations and networks and social and civil activities have an important role in monitoring, ensuring the integrity and fairness of elections, preventing fraud, promoting broad popular participation, and not repeating what happened in previous electoral processes.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency