RESHAPING POST-COVID IRAQ: DO BALLOTS HOLD THE ANSWER?
The MED This Week newsletter provides expert analysis and informed comments on the MENA region’s most significant issues and trends. Today, we turn the spotlight on Iraq, where citizens are called to the polls in an early attempt to re-shape a political landscape that has struggled to meet people’s expectations since 2019.
On the 10th of October, Iraqis are called to vote for the fifth parliamentary election since 2005. Initially scheduled for June and later postponed at Iraq’s Independent High Election Commission’s behest (IHEC), this electoral experiment is crucial for the country as it will be the first vote since the widespread protests that erupted in late 2019 demanding reforms and the end of corruption. Above all, the election has been mainly promoted by the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who has been determined to satisfy protesters’ demands since his appointment last year. Despite Grand Ayatollah Sistani’s recent call for high electoral participation, the turnout is expected to be meagre, especially in light of the several calls for a boycott from key Iraqi political players, such as Muqtada al-Sadr and the Iraqi Communist Party. The same conflicting attitude around the ballots is expected from the so-called Tishreen movement, which is opposed to the political system’s widespread corruption and strongly repressed by security forces and paramilitary groups. Regardless of the election outcome, the new government will face several of Iraq’s never-ending challenges, such as political corruption, youth unemployment, and climate-related fragilities. At the same time, it will have to manage a constantly changing regional outlook, where new diplomatic opportunities may not go hand in hand with the persistent foreign military presence across the country.
Experts from the ISPI MED network react to the upcoming general elections in Iraq .
