Iraq's electoral commission withdraws resignation

The commissioners of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) on Sunday withdrew their mass resignation to avoid repercussions on the political process in the country. "The commissioners of the electoral commission decided to retreat from their former resignation decision in response to official, local and international calls that they received," Sarbast Mustafa, head of commissioners board, said at a joint press conference with UN envoy to Iraq Nickolay Mladenov at the IHEC headquarters in Baghdad Green Zone. "We did not and will not be the reason behind destroying the security situation and the political process in Iraq," Mustafa said. He said that the campaigning will be launched on April 1, stressing that the it must focus on "the political programs of the political blocs not defaming others." On Tuesday the IHEC commissioners submitted their resignations collectively to protest the political pressures on their work due to the conflict among political parties. They said that great pressures have been practiced on their commission by a dispute between the legislative and the judiciary authorities, as both issued conflicting decisions interpreting articles of the elections law with regard to conditions of banning candidates from participating in the April 30 parliamentary elections.