SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Former Iraqi prime minister and head of the State of Law Coalition Nouri al-Maliki on Friday called for legal procedures against anyone who has held office or been elected to the parliament proven they have had Baathist affiliation in the past.

“We call for firm support of the National Accountability and Justice Commission and enabling it to perform its duty without pressure or obstacles,” Maliki said in a statement.

“If it is proven with evidence that any individual who infiltrated the parliament or state positions was previously affiliated with the Baath Party, they must be immediately subjected to legal procedures, regardless of their current position or the way they reached the office,” the statement added.

The Islamic Dawa Party, led by Maliki, in June claimed that there have been efforts to get the Baath Party back into the political scene and to include their representatives in the upcoming elections.

Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council in July said it will not allow individuals affiliated with the former Baath Party to run for parliament in the 2025 elections.

The council said “the group discussed preparations for the upcoming parliamentary elections and agreed to fully enforce the Accountability and Justice Law. They stressed the need to block anyone linked to the now-defunct Baath Party from entering parliament.”

Iraq is set to hold parliamentary elections on November 11, with more than 29 million voters eligible to cast their ballots in the upcoming polls.

The Baath Party ruled Iraq from 1968 until 2003, when the party’s leader, Saddam Hussein, was toppled and the regime collapsed in a US-led operation.

The Baath Party is banned under Article 7 of the constitution, which prohibits glorifying or promoting symbols of the regime. 

Over recent months, security forces, including the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), have periodically reported arrests of Baath promoters.