The Iraqi Communist Party has announced its withdrawal from the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for October 10.

“The atmosphere is not suitable for holding the elections, and there are many confusions in the political process,” Xinhua news agency quoted Raed Fahmi, secretary of the Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party, as saying at a press conference on Saturday.

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Fahmi noted that financial irregularities and uncontrolled weapons still affect the elections, saying the political parties are “not serious” in achieving the demands of popular protests that broke out in October 2019, and “the upcoming elections are nothing but a change of faces”.

The party won two seats in the 2018 parliamentary elections on a joint list within the Sairoon Coalition, which became the largest group in the Iraqi parliament, with the support of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Over a week ago, al-Sadr announced his withdrawal from the parliamentary elections due to “rampant corruption and unfair competition” among political parties.

Iraq is scheduled to hold early elections on October 10 in response to the anti-government protests against corruption and lack of public services.

The previous parliamentary elections in Iraq were held on May 12, 2018, and the next elections were originally scheduled to take place in 2022.