Today, Friday, the electoral campaign of the National State Forces Alliance was launched in preparation for the provincial council elections that will be held next month, in a huge ceremony that witnessed the presence of hundreds of the Alliance candidates and their fans.

The ceremony began with reading Surat Al-Fatihah and listening to the national anthem, then a speech by the President of the National State Forces Alliance, His Eminence Mr. Ammar Al-Hakim.

During his speech, the head of the Alliance's leadership council, Dr. Al-Abadi, stressed that free and fair elections are the pillar of any democratic system, as there is no legitimacy for any tyranny without the people's consent, options, and choices.

Al-Abadi described the election box as the legitimate womb for the birth of the authorities that represent the opinion and choice of the national nation, stressing that ignoring the elections and not participating is a stab at the legitimacy of the regime and its ability to gain the trust and representation of the state's public.

He added: "Democracy needs real, institutional parties with an ideological vision and specific programs for managing the state and its files. We must judge the credibility and effectiveness of any democracy by the credibility and effectiveness of its parties".

Al-Abadi pointed out that the "National State Forces Alliance" is a moderate political alliance that believes in the democratic state, works for it, controls its institutions, and does not see the state as an alternative to preserving the entity of Iraq and the supreme interests of the people, and that the Alliance believes that the problem of Iraq revolves around the state, and that failure to produce a just, rational, and strong state means the success of non-state projects where there is chaos, alienation and dependency.

In his speech, Al-Abadi also touched on Iraq's position towards the Palestinian issue, saying: "Iraq, as a people and a state, is with the just Palestinian cause, and against the Zionist occupation and its practices that violate the rights of peoples and the resolutions of international legitimacy. Iraq can only side with justice and people's right to freedom and sovereignty. The world, its institutions, and its powers must realize that the region will not be stabilized unless the Zionist occupation ends and the people of Palestine enjoy their national state".

Al-Abadi concluded his speech with the hope that we will witness free and fair elections with broad popular participation, that the electoral competition will be honorable, ethical, and purposeful, and that the coming experience will succeed with fair, valid, and effective management of the provincial councils.