Al-Halbousi: We must view the elections as a way to initiate the reform plan

Baghdad - INA

Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi stressed today, Sunday, the need to find realistic solutions to the challenges in Iraq, while stressing the need to view the upcoming elections as a means to initiate the reform plan.

Al-Halbousi stressed in his speech at the Al-Rafidain Forum for Dialogue, followed by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), "the need to find realistic solutions to the challenges in Iraq based on reality, not patchwork solutions and not based on Iraqi needs."

He added, "The most effective solutions are the most frank, even if they are the most severe." 
He stressed, "there must be a clear role for the youth of the Tishreen movement," noting that "the demonstrations were the most effective in the contemporary history of Iraq." 

Al-Halbousi added that "the upcoming elections may be one of the interim solutions," explaining that "we must look at the elections as a paving and important way to initiate the reform plan in the next political stage, and there must be great concessions from everyone. Without this mentality, we will not find a way to a solution." .   

Al-Halbousi added during a dialogue session that followed his speech, speaking about what the parliament has accomplished in its current session: "We have received nearly 100 bills, of which we have legislated 80 laws, and the current parliamentary session is the most intimate with the citizen," noting that "the parliament approved some important legislation, most notably elections, financial management, retirement and the budget.

He stressed that "Parliament was able to form a commission of judges, and the solution in the elections starts with the voter to address the many problems in the country," noting that "
He continued, "We suffer from the absence of the political doctrine of the Iraqi state, and we need to amend Article 76 of the Constitution to determine the largest bloc after the elections.".

Regarding the Iraqi neighborhood, Al-Halbousi said, "Iraq is the impenetrable dam for all the countries of the region, and its stability is important to them, and there are some neighboring countries who believed that the strength of Iraq was a threat to the region.".

He pointed out that "Turkish and Iranian influences in Iraq are in their favour, and that Iraq's neighboring countries have thought of their interests more than theirs."