Members of the armed forces, security personnel, and displaced persons in Iraq cast their votes on Sunday ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for November 11.
اضافة اعلان
Polling stations opened at 7:00 a.m. for more than 1.3 million military voters and over 26,500 displaced voters out of a total electorate exceeding 21.4 million, according to the Iraqi News Agency.
This marks the sixth legislative election since the U.S. invasion, taking place amid relative stability in Iraq, a country rich in oil resources but scarred by decades of conflict.
Over 7,400 candidates, roughly one-third of them women and mostly affiliated with major political parties or coalitions, are competing for 329 seats to represent more than 46 million citizens for a four-year term.
These elections are being conducted under the pre-2019 law, prior to the October 2019 protests in which thousands demanded reforms against corruption and the previous electoral system, which critics said favored established political parties.
The 2019 protests had led to a new electoral law allowing independent candidates to win; in 2021, independents secured about 70 seats. However, the Iraqi parliament reinstated the old law in 2023, and only 75 independent candidates are participating in this cycle.
Observers fear voter turnout could be lower than the historic low of 41% recorded in 2021, reflecting widespread voter frustration.
Notably, Muqtada al-Sadr, who commands a large popular base, is absent from this year’s elections, describing the process as driven solely by sectarian, ethnic, and party interests, and has urged his supporters to boycott voting and candidacy.
Among participating Shiite coalitions and parties are the State of Law Coalition led by former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, the National State Forces Alliance led by Ammar Al-Hakim, and political wings of armed factions within the Popular Mobilization Forces integrated into government structures.
The elections also serve as a pathway to select a new largely symbolic President of the Republic, traditionally a Kurdish post, and to nominate a new Prime Minister, processes that usually require consensus and can take several months.
—AFP
