ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Iraq’s Islamic Dawa Party, led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, on Friday claimed that there have been efforts to get the Baath Party back into the political scene and to include their representatives in the upcoming elections.

The party released a statement on Friday commemorating the anniversary of the execution of Iraq’s fallen dictator Saddam Hussein, who was executed on the first day of Eid al-Adha in 2006.

The statement stressed the need to preserve the memories of Saddam’s victims and guarantee the tragedies the Iraqi people were subjected to are not forgotten, by ensuring that the Baath Party is not enabled “to ride the wave of the political process once again.”

“Information has emerged about Baathist meetings being held in some provinces, and there are efforts to include their representatives in the upcoming elections under general social and tribal banners,” read the statement.

Iraq is set to hold parliamentary elections on November 11, with more than 29 million voters eligible to cast their ballots in the upcoming polls.

“The victims of the Baath will stand as a strong barrier against the Baathists’ infiltration into political life in Iraq today and tomorrow... The democratic experience must be protected from contamination and infiltration, which is a national and popular responsibility,” the statement concluded.

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in November 2024 announced that 29 people were arrested under suspicion of promoting or being members of the Baath Party. Days later a man was arrested for “glorifying” the Baath Party on TikTok, “defying the laws that prohibit the promotion of the dissolved party,” according to the Iraqi National Security Service.