UN to deploy election observers to Iraq

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) announced on Saturday that it will deploy international observers to monitor voting in Southern Iraq for stable and fair elections to be held on 10 October. 

The Special Representative of UNAMI, Jeanine Antoinette Plasschaert, encouraged Iraqis to have faith in the system and cast their votes on polling day, promising that their "voices will be heard".

"The UN mission will deploy international observers at polling stations and provide all kinds of support for the success of the parliamentary polls," Plasschaert said during a press conference in Iraq's southern Dhi Qar province, reported Andalou Agency. 

While in Basra today, @JeanineHennis met UN personnel who recently arrived from all over the globe to monitor the elections in southern Iraq before and on Election Day. Like Iraqis, the world wants to see a stable and prosperous Iraq. #Vote4Iraq pic.twitter.com/G1ky3Gdjvk

— UNAMI (@UNIraq) October 2, 2021

The Iraqi Electoral Commission said that more than 600 international observers will be monitoring the votes on polling day as some of the observers began arriving in Iraq on Saturday. 

Iraqis will head to the polls on 10 October. This will be a crucial test of the new Iraqi order installed after the 2003 US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein's Baathist dictatorship.

The polls were scheduled to start in 2022 but were pushed forward following public protests against corruption amid years of dwindling participation in elections, with voters consistently citing a lack of faith in a political process.