Iraq headed to the polls Saturday for its first parliamentary election since declaring victory over the Islamic State group, with the country hoping to shore up a fragile peace and rebuild.
Voters across the war-scarred nation cast their ballots under tight security, as the jihadists still pose a major security threat despite a sharp fall in violence.
The poll comes with tensions surging between key powers Iran and the United States after Washington pulled out of a key 2015 nuclear deal, sparking fears of a destabilising power struggle in Iraq.
Roughly 24.5 million voters face a fragmented political landscape five months after IS were ousted, with the dominant Shiites split, the Kurds in disarray and Sunnis sidelined.
Over 15 blood-sodden years since the US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein, disillusionment is widespread and politics is dominated by old faces from an elite seen as mired in corruption and sectarianism.
At a polling station in the Baghdad district of Karrada, 74-year-old Sami Wadi appealed for change “to save the country”.
“I call on all Iraqis to participate in the elections to prevent those who have controlled the nation since 2003 from staying in power,” the retiree told AFP.
In the former IS bastion, second city Mosul — still partially in ruins from the months-long fight to oust the group — residents hoped for an uptick in their fortunes as they struggle to put their lives back together.
“I am voting for security and the economy to stabilise and for a better future,” said labourer Ali Fahmi, 26.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi — who took office as IS rampaged across Iraq in 2014 — is angling for a new term, claiming credit for defeating the jihadists and seeing off a Kurdish push for independence.
But competition from within his Shiite community, the majority group dominating Iraqi politics, should divide the vote and spell lengthy horse-trading to form any government.
Whoever emerges as premier will face the mammoth task of rebuilding a country left shattered by the battle against IS — with donors already pledging $30 billion (25 billion euros).
More than two million people remain internally displaced and IS — which has threatened the polls — maintains the capacity to launch deadly attacks.
Iraq has long been a crucible for the rivalry between Iran and the US, with Tehran exerting influence over Shiite politicians and Washington deploying troops to fight IS.
Shiite camp divided
Overall, just under 7,000 candidates are standing and Iraq’s complex system means no single bloc is likely to get anything near a majority in the 329-seat parliament.
Abadi — who has balanced the US and Iran — is facing two leading challengers to his Victory Alliance.
Ex-premier Nuri al-Maliki is widely reviled for stirring sectarianism and losing territory to IS, but draws support from hardliners.
“I wish for all to go to the ballot boxes to make their choice,” Maliki said after casting his ballot, demanding authorities stop “attempts at falsification through the pressuring of voters”.
Another frontrunner, former transport minister Hadi al-Ameri, led Iran-backed paramilitary units that fought IS alongside Baghdad’s troops and heads a list of ex-combattants.
Votes in the Sunni heartlands once dominated by IS — including Iraq’s devastated second city Mosul — are up in the air as traditional alliances have been shredded by the fallout of jihadist rule.
Political forces in the Kurdish community — often seen as potential kingmakers — are also in disarray after a September vote for independence spectacularly backfired.
The Kurds look set to lose some of their clout on the national stage after Baghdad unleashed a battery of sanctions and seized back disputed oil-rich regions.
Putting on a brave face, the prime minister of autonomous Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, insisted the political process would not succeed “without Kurdish participation”.
“No party can form the next government without alliances,” he said in televised comments after voting.
A senior security official told AFP that some 900,000 police and soldiers are on high alert to protect the vote, with airports and borders shut for the day.
Polling stations are open until 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) and initial results are expected in three days.
Voters and candidates in Iraq’s election
After the ballot, the 329 members of parliament elected from party lists will be tasked with forming a government and electing a prime minister and president.
Following the 2003 US-led invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq held its first general election in January 2005, selecting a national assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution.
It then held parliamentary elections in December 2005, with two subsequent polls in 2010 and 2014.
Here is what you need to know about Iraq’s 2018 parliamentary elections:
Voters
Nearly 24.5 million of Iraq’s roughly 38 million people are registered to vote. They are spread out across 18 provinces.
Voters can cast their ballots at 8,959 polling stations across the country, all of which are equipped for electronic voting.
According to Iraqi authorities, nearly 11 million biometric identity cards have been distributed to authenticate identities.
The 285,564 internal refugees eligible to vote can do so in one of 166 polling stations in 70 camps spread across eight provinces in the country.
Voters will select party lists and seats will be divided up according to the number of votes each list secures.
Polling for Iraq’s roughly one million security force personnel and the one million voters living abroad was held ahead of the main election day.
Candidates
There are 6,990 candidates, including 2,011 women, set to run in the polls.
They will be competing for 329 seats, including nine reserved for minorities — Christians, Shabaks, Yazidis, Mandeans and Fayli Kurds — and 83 for women.
Candidates, selected based on their position in the party, will be elected to four-year terms in parliament.
There are 87 party lists in this year’s election.
The main lists are as follows:
– VICTORY ALLIANCE, led by incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
This year, for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the ranks of the executed leader’s oldest opponents, the Shiite Dawa Party, are divided.
Abadi, a key figure in the Dawa Party, has put together a list composed largely of civil society personalities that cross sectarian lines.
– CONQUEST ALLIANCE, led by Hadi al-Ameri, head of the Badr organisation and a leader of the mostly Shiite Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary units, which played a key role in rolling back Islamic State (IS) group jihadists.
His candidates officially quit their military roles to run for office.
– RULE OF LAW ALLIANCE, led by former prime minister Nuri al-Maliki.
This list relies principally on the Dawa Party, which Maliki heads.
But while it is popular with public servants hired under his mandate, the list suffers from criticisms aimed at Maliki because IS seized one-third of the country under his watch.
– MARCHING TOWARDS REFORM, an unprecedented alliance between Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr and communists.
It includes mostly secular groups including the Iraqi Communist Party and Istiqama (Arabic for righteousness), a party of technocrats backed by Sadr, who suspended his Ahrar bloc and called on his 33 ministers not to run in the polls.
– SUNNIS appear on several lists. The main list, “The National Alliance”, is led by Vice President Iyad Allawi — a Shiite who presents himself as secular — and Sunni head of parliament Salim al-Juburi.
Weakened after three years of IS rule, Sunnis could be the biggest losers in this year’s elections.
– KURDS will head to polls with divided ranks to fill their northern autonomous region’s 46 seats, two of which are reserved for Christians. The main Kurdish parties are the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Kurdistan Patriotic Union (PUK).
Published in Daily Times, May 13th 2018.