His Majesty King Abdullah warned Thursday against the risks of Iraq being partitioned and said elections were the best way to restore stability to the country.



“I have cautioned against efforts by certain parties to sow discord and push towards sectarianism in Iraq,” King Abdullah said in an interview with AFP.



The King referred to “calls for the establishment of an autonomous region in southern Iraq that clearly amount to a suspect invitation to partition.”



King Abdullah said his comments had been “exaggerated or misinterpreted” when he warned in an earlier interview that some parties were using the Shiite majority in Iraq to try to create a Shiite “crescent” stretching to Lebanon.



“Some people went too far in their interpretation of my words, in a desperate bid to falsify the facts and achieve their projects and ambitions,” the King said.



“As a Hashemite Arab King, attached to the unity of the Iraqi people, the unity of its ranks and independent destiny, I was warning against attempts at division,” he said.



“It is my duty to warn against any attempt to break up the unity of the Iraqi people and spread discord between the different communities,” said King Abdullah. “As a Hashemite, I feel I speak in the name of all Muslims, Sunnis and Shiites,” said the King.



“We want them to be united, as they have always been, and we will oppose any attempt to damage this privileged relationship or our ties with our Shiite brothers,” he said.



On the Palestinian issue, the King said that the Palestinians fulfilled a great achievement when holding their democratic elections, adding that the step will help them achieve their aspirations to establish their viable independent state on their national soil.



King Abdullah, meanwhile, said his aim was to make Jordan “an example of political and economic openness... democracy and comprehensive development” in the region and to achieve a better future for his people through enhancing the participation of the various segments in the development process.