Iraq

Jassim Al-Helfy, leading member in Iraqi civil current and member of the Political Bureau of the Iraqi Communist Party, expected a huge change in the political arena, breaking the monopoly imposed by the ruling party for nearly 13 years, pointing out that the provincial elections in September 2017 will determine the situation of general parliamentary elections in early 2018.

Al-Helfy told Arabs Today that he does not rule out holding an alliance with any party except those that failed in the state administration in the previous phase and contributed to the spread of corruption.

However, he said that it is still too early to talk about coalitions, adding that the democratic process would be intact and alliances will not work unless there is a change in election commission, which is refused by civilians and various sectors of Iraqi society.

He pointed to that the Iraqi civil current has several options at his movement but he will disclose them in the future. He explained that the other thing that should be discussed before the alliances, is the election law, stressing that the big powers will seek to issue a law that does not allow other political forces to come in power, as the new law will determine the nature of the alliances of civil powers.

Al-Helfy referred that Ali al-Sistani still insists on boycotting the current political alliance for the second year in a row and refuses to meet with its leaders or to intervene in solving the problems after he was supporting them for about ten years, adding that this situation confirms the disappointment of their hopes and failure in management the country.

He pointed out that the next election would witness a real disintegration of the current ruling alliance and the creation of new alliances which will change the Iraqi political scene where Nuri al-Maliki's party will be the biggest loser.