BAGHDAD, 16 Dec: Iraqis began voting for the first time in a decade Saturday to select new provincial council members, who in turn will appoint governors, with the outcome seen as a bellwether for the parliamentary elections due to take place in 2025.
\nSaturday\u2019s vote was restricted to military and security personnel and internally displaced people living in camps, with the main polling set to take place on Monday. Results are expected to be announced Tuesday.
\nConcerns were raised about a low voter turnout and potential violence spreading in the long-awaited polls taking place in the country\u2019s 18 provinces.
\nThe powerful Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr \u2014 who officially resigned from politics in 2022 amid a lengthy deadlock over cabinet formation \u2014 has called on his supporters to boycott the provincial elections, saying that their participation would reinforce the dominance of a corrupt political class.
\nA widespread boycott would \u201creduce the legitimacy of the elections internationally and internally,\u201d Sadr said in a statement.
\nIn some areas, Sadr\u2019s supporters ripped down electoral posters while several political campaign offices were vandalized. In the southern city of Najaf \u2014 a bastion of Sadr support \u2014 thousands marched on Thursday to urge a boycott of the elections.
\nActivists who staged mass anti-government protests in 2019 and are opposed to all the ruling parties also widely vowed to sit the polls out.
\nApart from those actively boycotting the elections, many are simply apathetic.
\nSajad Jiyad, an Iraqi political analyst and fellow at the non-partisan think tank, The Century Foundation, pointed out that millions of eligible voters are not even registered, and low turnout has been a trend since 2005.
\n\u201cAll signs point to apathy among the general population,\u201d he said. \u201cYoung people in particular are not engaged with politics, and no party has captured their imagination.\u201d
\nAqeel Al-Rubaie, a perfume shop owner in Baghdad, said he and his family are sitting the polls out. He said he saw \u201cno real electoral program\u201d and widespread corruption in the political campaigns, with some candidates offering bribes to prospective voters.
\n\u201cWhat did the Iraqis gain from the previous elections that would make me think I can benefit from this election?\u201d he said. \u201cCorruption and weapons are still rampant in the country. Unemployment and services are not available.\u201d
\nIn some areas, the elections could inflame existing political and sectarian tensions. Among them is the Kirkuk province, with a mixed population of Sunnis, Shia, Kurds and Turkmen, which has been the scene of a territorial dispute for years between the central government in Baghdad and that of the semi-autonomous northern Kurdish region with its capital in Irbil.
\nDemonstrations in Kirkuk over the handover of a key facility from federal to local Kurdish authorities turned violent in September, killing one protester and injuring others.
\nA controversial election law passed in March that increased the size of electoral districts was seen as undermining the chances for smaller parties and independent candidates to win seats.
\nThe law was backed by the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Iran-backed, mainly Shiite parties that is the main rival of Sadr\u2019s bloc. With Sadr\u2019s followers boycotting, the Coordination Framework is likely to be the main beneficiary of the provincial elections. (AP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BAGHDAD, 16 Dec: Iraqis began voting for the first time in a decade Saturday to select new provincial council members, who in turn will appoint governors, with the outcome seen as a bellwether for the parliamentary elections due to take place in 2025. Saturday\u2019s vote was restricted to military and security personnel and internally displaced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-230785","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}