The head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), Jan Kubis, said he hoped the next government would be formed by Eid al-Adha, which this year falls in late August. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Kubis noted that the upcoming government should meet the aspirations of Iraqis who, in recent demonstrations, had sent a “very strong message”, expressing their frustration with the incumbent political system and the sectarian quotas. “There is a chance,” he said, when commenting on the possibility of the nation-wide prominent Shiite authority Ali al-Sistani instigating change among prominent political forces. The UN official called on Baghdad powers to carry on with the policy of openness initiated by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi with neighboring countries, especially Saudi Arabia and Gulf states. Kubis, whose term is nearing completion, said the partial recount of votes in some areas of Iraq after the May elections might be a masked blessing. “It is good that the authorities have decided to manually re-sort the suspicious votes. This gives more credibility to the election process,” he stated. Kubis stressed that he looked forward to the formation of the new government following the completion of the recount process and the ratification of the results. He said he hoped that the political parties “will rush to the final stage of consultations to form a government” which “must support reforms and meet the people’s aspirations and needs.” Asked about Iran’s role in Iraq under the new sanctions imposed on the Persian state, he said: “This has to be decided by the Iraqi government of course.” However, he noted that the authorities have “clearly stated that they were against the sanctions, but would comply with them because they have no other choice.” In response to a question about the rapprochement initiated by the government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi with neighboring countries, Kubis said: “I now expect that people in Iraq see how important are the positive openness to all countries in the region and cooperation with international partners.”