The Iraqi electoral commission's decision to reverse a ban on some 500 "Baathist" candidates' participation in the coming parliamentary polls was "illegal and unconstitutional," dpa quoted the Iraqi government as saying today. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the electoral commission's decision to lift its January ban on some 500 candidates from the March 7 polls because of their alleged connections to the former ruling Baath Party were "illegal and unconstitutional." The commission's decision to delay considering the candidates' appeal until after the elections violated Iraq's rules of procedure, he said. His condemnation came as parliamentary speaker Iyad al-Samarrai announced the parliament would convene a special session Sunday to discuss the decision, at the request of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Al-Maliki's State of Law coalition had earlier sharply criticised the commission's lifting of the ban. "What is surprising is that the decision applied to all the (banned) candidates, without much thought," the coalition said in a statement. The statement questioned whether "interference and political pressure were behind this move."
