IRAQ: Bethnahrain Patriotic Union announces electoral platform for upcoming parliamentary elections

ANKAWA, Iraq — As the Iraqi parliamentary elections draw closer, candidates are laying out their legislative priorities.

The electoral platform of the Bethnahrain Patriotic Union’s (HBA) candidate Joseph Sliwa includes three main themes: Iraqi National Issues, Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian Issues, and Humanitarian Issues.

Sliwa has released a number of objectives should he win a seat in parliament:

• Change the curriculum to be suitable for a multi-religious and multi-national society.
• Demand the rights of young graduates and non-graduates in terms of job appointments to address the root problem of emigration.
• Change the Iraqi flag to include symbols of all Iraqi peoples.
• Establish Akitu Day as a national holiday in Iraq.
• Limit weapons to the state and stabilize the security situation in all of Iraq.
• Ensure the national, political, administrative, cultural, and educational rights of the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people.
• Develop, rebuild, and provide services to villages, towns, and cities of Nineveh Plains.
• Advocate for the creation of Nineveh Plains Province under Constitutional Article 119.
• End the problem of demographic change in Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian regions.
• Establish specialized institutes, colleges, research centers, and community institutions to develop the Syriac language.