In Iraq, the opposition National Dialogue Front has announced that it is withdrawing from the7th March Parliamentary elections. This was announced by party spokesman Haider al-Mulla after a prominent Iraqi politician Saleh al-Mutlaq was banned from contesting next month's parliamentary elections, for alleged ties to the Iraq's ousted leader Saddam Hussein’s Baath party.The spokesman said that the National Dialogue Front will boycott the election, but it will stay part of the political process.Al-Mutlaq is one among 145 candidates barred from contesting the upcoming elections by a de-Baathification committee. The ban has subsequently been upheld by the Iraqi supreme court of appeal.