Baghdad, March 05 (QNA) - leader of the most influential faction in Iraq Moqtada Al-Sadr has described participation in the parliamentary election is a kind of ''political resistance.'' A statement distributed here Friday by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's political authority, Al Sadr said ,'' these elections of this year , I consider them a political resistance if we run and exercise them in the most appropriate and unified form possible.'' So, unite, people of Iraq, for the liberation of Iraq politically and for the service of your people'', said al Sadr in his statement.
For his part, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki had called on all Iraqis abroad to vote, stressing that their country was standing before a serious and critical phase.    
In Damacus, between 100,000 and 150,000 Iraqis started voting in Syria for the Iraqi parliamentary elections from Friday to Sunday, the Head of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) in Syria, Haidar Abu Allawi, said.
The official confirmed that there are about 220,000 Iraqi civilians living in Syria according to the United Nations statistics.
"All Iraqi civilians who can prove their Iraqi nationality and are over 18 years old can vote and participate equally in the election process," Allawi said adding that the elections will be held under observers from the European Union (EU) members such as Germany, France and Romania.  .
The IHEC office in Damascus has set up 23 polling stations. Most of them are based in Damascus and its countryside, only three stations located in the northern governorates.
With the second phase of the Iraqi parliamentary elections beginning on Thursday midnight (Baghdad time) for citizens living overseas, the Iraqis in Australia were the first to vote among their country people in 16 nations worldwide.
The commissioners' council of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) had announced the end of all campaigns for coalitions, political groups, and individual candidates taking part in the elections.
Other countries in which Iraqis will be able to vote are Iran, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Sweden, Denmark, the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, Austria, Turkey, Egypt, Britain, and Germany.
Member of IHEC's commissioners' council and member of the committee supervising the elections Iyad Al-Kannani said that voting in the United States and Canada will begin on Friday at 4:00 p.m. (Baghdad time). (QNA)