ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq –Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s former prime minister and leader of the State of Law Coalition, on Wednesday called on Iraqi citizens to vote in the upcoming elections, stressing that, whether they want to consolidate the system or change it, the only way to achieve that is by voting.

Iraq is set to hold parliamentary elections later this year, but no specific date has yet to be announced for the vote.

“If we want to consolidate a system, we have no other path than elections. If we want to achieve a smooth and peaceful change of power, we have no other path than elections,” said Maliki in a televised speech on Wednesday.

“We have not and will not return to the days of coups and conspiracies that drain and manipulate the will of the nation,” he added.

Maliki’s remarks come as dozens of tribes from central and southern Iraq have announced their intention to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections in support of a recent call from influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who urged his followers not to participate in the process on account of ongoing “corruption” in the country.

“Do not listen to those who say, 'What if I am absent from the elections?' or those who level accusations against the political process. Absence from the elections will allow corruption and corrupt individuals to continue and become more concentrated. They are the ones who will go to the ballot boxes if you, the Iraqi people, are absent,” Maliki added.

Sadr, whose movement emerged as the main victor from the 2021 Iraqi parliamentary elections after gaining 73 seats, ordered all his MPs to resign from the legislature in June 2022, and announced his “definitive retirement” from politics after his attempts to form the next government were repeatedly blocked, mainly by the Coordination Framework - led by Maliki.