Sinjar mayor called the government for expelling PKK from the District

Shafaq News/ The mayor of Sinjar in Nineveh, Mahma Khalil, announced on Sunday that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) prevented him and two Yazidi candidates from entering the city to promote their electoral campaign.

Khalil said in a statement, "At 11:30 yesterday, Saturday, I went to Sinjar with my fellow candidates from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Majid Shankali, and Vian Dakhil, to promote the electoral campaign and motivate people to participate in the elections, but many PKK members confronted us and prevented us from entering, and they also threatened to kill us."

He pointed out that "Article 5 of the Constitution and Article 22 of the Elections Law obligated the government to provide protection for election candidates, but it seems that this right is being taken away in Sinjar.”

Khalil held the central government "responsible to protect us, and to provide the appropriate atmosphere for holding the elections, by finding a place for the candidates to feel safe, and for voters to practice their right to vote freely."

He called on the government to "work to expel this illegal party from Iraq and provide security and safety for the people of Sinjar."

Earlier today, The former Yazidi deputy, Vian Dakhil, called Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, and the United Nations to carry out its tasks in the elections in Sinjar.

The former deputy said in a statement; "After a non-Iraqi armed force coming from across the border prevented the candidates of the Iraqi Kurdistan Party from carrying out an electoral event permitted by the Iraqi federal constitution in the wounded city of Sinjar; urgent steps must be taken to grant equal chances to all Candidates within the district of Sinjar.”

Dakhil called on "the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to pay special attention to Sinjar and to what is being planned for the elections day, and we call on him to use his powers to prevent any manipulation or influence from any party with the voters' choices."

She also held the “United Nations observation team fully responsible if it did not take its role of observing of polling days in and around Sinjar. What happened today is a dangerous indication of the ability of some armed groups to control election campaigns and even voting on election day, with force.”