Iraq general election campaign begins

Campaigning has begun for next month’s general electionin Iraq, with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki seeking a third consecutive term in office.No single bloc is expected to win a majority of the 328 seats in the Council of Representatives on 30 April.However, Maliki’s Shia-dominated State of Law alliance is widely seen as the front- runner, reported the BBC.The poll comes with violence in Iraq at its highest level since the peak of thesectarian insurgency from 2006 to 2008.The poll was put at risk last week when Iraq’s election commissioners threatened toresign over what they said was political and judicial interference in their work.The board of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) complained thatthat judges and parliament had issued contradictory rulings regarding the exclusionof certain candidates.