Ahmed Rasheed and John Davison

BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – A record low turnout at Monday’s parliamentary elections in Iraq suggested that a vote billed on Monday as an opportunity for the ruling elite to wrest power from them would not do much to remove sectarian religious groups in power since 2003.

Initial results in a few provinces indicated strong showings by blocs headed by former Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and Moqtada, a Shi’ite cleric. Although the election commission didn’t give any indication of when results would be available from Baghdad it did say that they could.

However, the 41% official turnout suggests that the early voting, which was held according to new rules promoted by Mustafa al-Kadhimi, did not capture the attention of the public. This is especially true for younger Iraqis, who demonstrated massively two years ago.

To be truthful, I didn’t vote. “It isn’t worth it,” Hussein Sabah (20), said to Reuters from Iraq’s south port Basra. “There’s nothing I could do that would be of benefit to myself or anyone else. There are many youth who have no job and have degrees. They were all there before the election. Who knows what will happen after the election?

Kadhimi’s predecessor quit after authorities shot and killed 600 demonstrators in a crackdown. To show more accountability, the new prime minister declared the vote months before the deadline.

They demanded the reform of the rules that they claimed concentrated too much power in favor of sectarian parties. Kadhimi passed a new voting law that was supposed to help independent candidates and those from the local area. The voting districts became smaller and it was discontinued that parties had the right to award seats to candidates on lists.

However, the most effective ways for powerful parties to mobilize support and candidates was under new rules. Many activists who called for reform joined established parties or boycotted voting. Low turnout was predicted to favor the establishment.

SADR SEEN Ahead

According to most polls, Sadr’s populist-leaning movement, which opposes any foreign interference, will continue to be parliament’s largest group. However, it is unlikely that Sadr can form a government by itself.

Officials in Iraq and independent analysts believe that Shi’ite parties affiliated to Iran-based militia groups will also lose their seats. It is likely this is due to anger at the government for cracking down against protests. However, these losses do not appear to be severe enough to alter the balance in power.

The capital saw a low turnout, with 31% to 34%. Most of the counting machines in Baghdad reported lower figures than 25% at polling stations that Reuters visited Sunday.

Since 2003’s U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein was ousted as Sunni Muslim ruler. Five elections in Iraq were held by Shiite coalitions.

You can see that the U.S. occupation did not end rampant sectarian violence. The Islamic State fighters, who took over a third in Iraq in 2014, were defeated in 2017. Many Iraqis still feel that their lives are not improving. There is a lot of infrastructure that’s in poor condition and there are no adequate healthcare facilities, electricity or education.