As far as the government is concerned, the first challenge is to form a government which is based not on an ethnic and sectarian affiliation. We shou… - Raed Fahmy Jahid

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 state s to achieve social justice and real socioeconomic development.

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.

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 strengthen s and . Iraq should not be a consumer-only market for the production activities of neighbouring countries.