30 candidates barred from Iraq’s elections

Iraq’s electoral commission has barred 30 candidates from running in March’s parliamentary elections because they face charges of crimes involving “moral turpitude,” Baghdad’s al-Sabbah newspaper reported on Wednesday.

“All candidates have had their records reviewed by the Ministry of Interior. It emerged that over 30 candidates face charges of crimes and misdemeanors involving moral turpitude,” Osama a-—Aini, of Iraq’s Independent High Commission for Elections, told the daily.

“These candidates will be banned from the elections in accordance with electoral law and the Iraqi constitution. Their political parties will be informed, so that they can nominate replacements for them,” Iraq’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for March 7.

Some 511 candidates and 10 groups have been banned by the Accountability and Justice Commission, the independent body that replaced the de-Baathification Committee, from running in the elections because of their links to the former ruling Baath Party, which is now banned under the Iraqi constitution. “We have received data on the candidates from the Accountability and Justice Commission,” al-Aini said. “The Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology are still working on verifying the records of the candidates, of which there are around 7,000.”