Iraq yesterday closed its airspace and land border crossings as voters headed to the polls to elect a parliament that many hope will deliver much-needed reforms after decades of conflict and mismanagement.
The vote was to be held next year, but was brought forward in response to a popular uprising in the capital, Baghdad, and southern provinces in late 2019.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest endemic corruption, poor services and rising unemployment. They were met with deadly force by security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas. More than 600 people were killed and thousands injured within just a few months.
Photo: Reuters
Although authorities gave in and called the early elections, the death toll and the heavy-handed crackdown prompted many young activists and demonstrators who took part in the protests to later call for a boycott of the polls.
A series of kidnappings and targeted assassinations that killed more than 35 people has further discouraged many from taking part.
A total of 3,449 candidates are vying for 329 seats in the parliamentary elections, which are the sixth held since the fall of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
More than 250,000 security personnel across the country were tasked with protecting the vote. Soldiers, police and anti-terrorism forces fanned out and deployed outside polling stations, some of which were ringed by barbed wire. Voters were patted down and searched before going in to cast their ballots.
Iraqi President Barham Salih and Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi urged Iraqis to vote amid widespread apathy and skepticism from many.
“Get out and vote, and change your reality for the sake of Iraq and your future,” said al-Kadhimi, repeating it three times after he cast his ballot at a school in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, home to foreign embassies and government offices.
“To those who hesitate, put your trust in God and go and choose those you deem appropriate,” he added, reflecting concerns about a low turnout. “This is our opportunity for reform.”
The 2018 elections saw just 44 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots, a record low. The results were widely contested. There are concerns of a similar or even lower turnout this time.
Iraq’s top Shiite cleric and a widely respected authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has called for a large turnout, saying that voting remains the best way for Iraqis to help shape their nation’s future.
In the Shiite holy city of Najaf, influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr cast his ballot, swarmed by local journalists. Al-Sadr won a majority of seats in the 2018 elections.
A tight race is expected between the al-Sadr Sairoun list and the Fatah Alliance, led by paramilitary leader Hadi al-Ameri, which came in second in the previous election.
The Fatah Alliance is comprised of parties affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly pro-Iran Shiite militias that rose to prominence during the war against the Sunni extremist Islamic State group. It includes some of the most hard-line pro-Iran factions, such as the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia.
Al-Sadr, a black-turbaned nationalist and populist leader, is also close to Iran, but publicly rejects its political influence.
The election was taking place under a new election law that divides Iraq into smaller constituencies — another demand of the activists who took part in the 2019 protests — and allows for more independent candidates.
Iraq is also for the first time introducing biometric cards for voters. To prevent abuse of electronic voter cards, they are to be disabled for 72 hours after each person votes, to avoid double voting.
Yet despite all these measures, claims of vote buying, intimidation and manipulation have persisted.
The head of Iraq’s electoral commission has said that initial election results would be announced within 24 hours.
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
RSS