Iraq’s Vice President Ayad Allawi launched an electoral campaign focusing on countering corruption, dubbing it “the call of the homeland.”
“Some of those who assumed responsibility after 2003 did not carry the project of building a state,” Allawi said in a televised speech on Sunday evening.
Allawi, one of the three Vice-Presidents of the Republic, added that “some took advantage of their influence and international relations to overrun real voices of the people expressed in the 2010 elections.”
He pointed out that “abhorrent quotas and power sharing according to different and narrow loyalties caused tragedies, public displacement, security setbacks and corruption.”
On the purpose of this campaign, Allawi said it aimed to “save Iraq and its people from humiliation,” adding that his bloc believed in “the ability of young people to change reality.”
“Our project and the youth project will revolve around achieving realistic reform.”
The leader of the National Coalition warned against distorting the will of Iraqi voters, manipulating votes and bringing in debts. “We will not stand idly by anymore,” Allawi warned.
Conversely, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Dr. Salim al-Jabouri acknowledged on Saturday the inability of the current political class to combat corruption.
Jubouri said Iraq has not yet been able to eliminate corruption, calling for a million people demonstration on Election Day for change.
Speaking during an Islamic conference in Baghdad on Saturday, Jabouri said that “the will for change cannot be achieved through resentment, but requires a revolutionary electoral change,” pointing out that “Iraq has not yet been able to eliminate corruption.”
More so, member of the parliament's financial transparency commission Rahim al-Darraji slammed the current political class for corruption.
Commenting on the announcement by the speaker of the parliament about the inability of the political class to fight corruption, Darraji told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the current Iraqi political class failed to achieve anything useful for the country,” noting that “failure was evident in everything and not only in counter-corruption efforts.”
He said it also failed in the ability to build state institutions.
Darraji stressed that “the Iraqi public must not reelect this political class and that it should come up with new faces rather than masking old faces.”
“Current politicians have proven themselves to be crisis riding and sectarian men, not statesmen,” concluded Darraji.
