"We are in a country that's in deep crisis at this particular juncture; all indicators are bad, not only in terms of terrorism and security. There is high unemployment; marginalised people; poor socials; very bad infrastructure. All these big challenges constitute a platform under which you can build a very wide-ranging coalition for the."

“Our interest must not risk Iraq's interests. If we can build an Iraq on the basis of our own independence and sovereignty, I think this Iraq will be respected by others, whether it be the Americans, Iranians or any other country. And this is what we are working to achieve. We have to work with the Iraqi people - so far they have been divided and all other external forces found it easy to intervene because they found receptive ears. What we are saying is that we should reinforce Iraqi unity.”

“We had to get rid of occupation and regain and enhance our sovereignty. We have now ended up with a capitalist system. We are calling for social justice, a system in terms of creating jobs and enhancing the productive base of the economy.”

“Our party, the oldest in Iraq, was established in 1934. It stands for the rights of working people; for the country's independence; for its development; and of course, in the current situation, we are calling for a change to the - we're calling for a citizens' state based on justice and. We believe that over the past 12 years, the political process was based on an ethnic and sectarian system. I think this so-called "quota system" is responsible for the crisis the country is now facing. It created the grounds for corruption and lack of development. Change should begin by reforming states to achieve social justice and real socioeconomic development.”

“Since 2003, we are fully dependent on oil. Agriculture, industry, manufacturing have all regressed, accounting for not more than 1.25 percent of GDP. Our strategy is to reactivate agriculture, manufacturing and other productive activity, and at the same time provide protection to the people. In terms of social advancement, we want to strengthens and. Iraq should not be a consumer-only market for the production activities of neighbouring countries.”

“We should give priority to legislation concerning social security.”

“The country faces big challenges and we can address these challenges together with parties from different backgrounds and ideologies who share the concerns and interest as the people of Iraq.”