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Iraqis vote in general election, a test for democratic system By Reuters

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© Reuters. One woman scans her finger in order to confirm her identity, before she votes at the polling stations during the parliamentary election. Kerbala (Iraq), October 10, 2021. REUTERS/Abdullah Dhiaa Al-deen

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Ahmed Rasheed and John Davison

BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – Iraqis voted on Sunday in a general elections that many declared they would boycott. They had lost faith in democracy since 2003’s invasion by the U.S.

Due to protests of mass anti-government demonstrations in 2002, the elections are being held several months earlier than usual. However, the Shi’ite Islamist-dominated and well-armed ruling elite will likely win.

According to analysts, diplomats, and officials from Iraq, the result won’t significantly alter power balance in Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East.

“I’m not going to vote and my family won’t vote either, said Murtadha Nassir, a 27-year-old man in the southern city of Nassiriya, who participated in protests and watched friends gunned down by security forces.

“These groups being voted in, they’re all the ones who targeted us.”

However, many Iraqis wanted to vote in this election. It was their fifth parliamentary vote since 2003. They are optimistic about the future. Abu Abdullah from Kirkuk said he came to the vote just an hour before voting stations opened.

He stated, “I came from early morning to take part in an event that would hopefully bring about change,” “We anticipate the situation to improve substantially.”

The election commission reports that at least 167 parties, and over 3,200 candidates, are competing to win 329 of the seats in parliament. The long-running negotiations for a President, Prime Minister and Cabinet in Iraq are common after elections.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, widely viewed as Western-friendly, told reporters as he cast his ballot: “I call on Iraq people: there’s still time. Go out and vote for Iraq and vote for your future.”

Kadhimi’s government called for early voting in protest of the 2019 anti-establishment demonstrations that overthrew the current administration.

Protesters demanded the elimination of the corrupt ruling class that many Iraqis see as corrupt and the dissolution of the country. Over the course of several months, protesters were brutally subdued. Some 600 were also killed.

Some of Iraq’s top political leaders and officials voted at a secured hotel in Baghdad’s Green Zone — which hosts foreign embassies and government buildings — but trickled in at a rate of one every 20 minutes. Others voted in constituencies outside Baghdad.

Iraq is now safer than ever before and violence is much less common since the defeat of the Sunni Islamic State by Iraq in 2017, with the support of the international military coalition and Iran.

Many people, who number in the region of 40 million, are unable to work due to corruption and poor management. They also lack electricity, healthcare and education.

FOREIGN INFLUENCE

Iran, the United States of America, Gulf Arab nations, Israel and Israel compete for influence over Iraq. This has allowed Tehran to help proxy militias in Syria and Lebanon.

The 2003 invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, and catapulted to power the country’s majority Shi’ites and the Kurds, who were oppressed under Saddam. This unleashed decades of sectarian violence and saw the Islamic State take over a third the country between 2014-2017.

Washington has agreed to withdraw combat troops of all U.S. troops, but the majority of its 2,500 troops remain in Iraqi non-combat positions, U.S. officials say.

That decision came under pressure from Iraq’s dominant Shi’ite parties, many of them backed by Iran, which called for the removal of U.S. forces after the U.S. killing of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020.

The populist Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who opposes all foreign influence and is a rival of the Iran-aligned Shi’ite groups, is expected to come first in the election. He called on foreign troops to be pulled out.

Two stations in Karbala provinces and Anbar were affected by power cuts, which delayed the opening of polls for a short time.

The biggest Shi’ite blocs in the election are those of Sadr and a separate coalition of Iran-aligned parties with armed wings. Two main Kurdish parties control the autonomous Kurdistan, while Sunnis now have two main blocs.



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