Candidate in upcoming Iraq elections claims ‘to be a prophet’

Baghdad - In a peculiar case, a candidate for parliamentary elections in the province of Dhi Qar claimed to be a prophet in order to win in the upcoming vote.

According to local media, a person named Yasser Nasser Hussein published banners with his image along with expressions in which he claimed to be a prophet and a leader to the nation.

Sources added that the security forces arrested the defendant to investigate his allegations, while Yasser Nasser has refused to give any statement only with the presence of judges to conduct an official investigation.

The assistant director of the Electoral Office of the province of Dhi Qar Rafid al-Zaidi denied the fact that the Commission has been informed, and said that the Electoral Commission in Nasiriyah did not receive any official statement about the arrest or the electoral advertisements of the candidate.

Political analyst Hussein al-Hasnawi told Al Arabiya that the democratic political system in Iraq ensured the right of every citizen to run for the House of Representatives on the condition that he fulfills all the candidacy’s requirements from the legal, administrative and judicial aspects.

Hasnawi added that the acceptance of the nomination by the commission does not mean that the candidate is immune from the penalties for the offenses he commits. There are also conditions that if not respected the candidate would be excluded.

Hasnawi said that some candidates adopt strange methods to win votes, which may be in violation to public behavior, and thus they lose the opportunity to participate and win the election.

Iraqi parliamentary elections are scheduled for May 12th. More than 6,000 people are running for a seat in the next parliament in its fourth session since regime change.