Corruption and Baath ties endanger 75 Iraqi candidates
Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) is preparing to issue a new list of disqualified candidates from the upcoming elections, an MP revealed on Monday.
In remarks to Shafaq News Agency, MP Raed al-Maamouri clarified that more than 75 candidates will be excluded due to their affiliation with the Baath Party and their inclusion under the Accountability and Justice procedures.
He explained that additional lists will be issued later to disqualify candidates on grounds related to dishonorable conduct, financial corruption, and administrative misconduct.
Al-Maamouri stated that the "good conduct and reputation" clause in the electoral law, if applied in previous sessions, would have prevented certain individuals from reaching Parliament, adding that any person covered by the General Amnesty Law will also be excluded from participating in the elections.
Later, IHEC spokesperson Jumana al-Ghalai told our agency that 65 candidates have already been barred from running under Article 7/Third of the amended Parliamentary, Provincial and District Councils Elections Law No. 12 of 2018, which requires candidates to have good conduct and no final conviction for felonies or misdemeanors involving moral turpitude—including administrative or financial corruption—regardless of amnesty.
The decision, she clarified, followed verification by the Interior Ministry, noting that appeals can be lodged within three days and judicial rulings are final.
The IHEC had earlier decided to disqualify a group of candidates for Iraq's parliamentary elections scheduled for November 2025. Official documents regarding the disqualifications showed that the decision followed verification of criminal records involving charges of murder, bribery, forgery, fraud, and cases of financial and administrative corruption.
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