"The United States does not support any party or coalition in the upcoming elections," Silliman said in a press release on March 27, 2018. "But we will support a moderate, non-sectarian government that serves all the Iraqi people."

"The current government informs us that the Iraqi forces have a good plan to protect the elections, and we will not participate in securing them because the Iraqi forces are able to do so."

"It is difficult to manipulate and rig elections because the new system is used with a high degree of accuracy and no manipulation is allowed," he said.

A total of 205 parties and political entities will participate in the upcoming elections, which is lower than the 310 groups who ran last cycle because several parties merged and others have disbanded.

Reporter’s code: 50101