(Adnkronos) – A new Parliament is being voted on today in Iraq, at a time of stability in the country after decades of war and with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani seeking re-election for a second term in which he hopes to achieve independence from both the United States and Iran. Over 21 million Iraqis are eligible to vote and can go to the polls, which opened at 7 this morning and will close at 18:00, 16:00 in Italy. Preliminary results are expected within 24 hours of the polls closing, closely followed by both Iran and the United States, who are enemies of each other but allies of Baghdad.
But many Iraqis have lost hope that the elections can bring significant changes to their lives, and for this reason, low turnout is feared, even below the minimum record registered in 2021, when 41% of eligible voters went to the polls. On the domestic front, Iraq, with a population of 46 million, suffers from deficient infrastructure and public services, as well as endemic corruption.
There are more than 7,740 candidates, almost a third of whom are women, vying for the 329 seats in Parliament. Only 75 are independent candidates, based on an electoral law that many believe favors larger parties. The fact remains that since US-led forces overthrew Sunni Saddam Hussein in 2003, the long-oppressed Shiite majority continues to dominate Iraq, and most parties have ties to Iran. Since then, the post of prime minister has gone to a Shiite, that of speaker of parliament to a Sunni, while the presidency goes to a Kurd.
Iraqi Prime Minister al-Sudani hopes for a second term and will likely emerge victorious from the polls, having governed by focusing on stability, succeeding in preserving Iraq from the turmoil that has swept the Middle East and promoting reconstruction in the country. Sudani came to power in 2022 with the support of the Shiite Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shiite parties and factions linked to Iran. It is unlikely, however, that a single party or list will obtain an absolute majority, and for this reason, al-Sudani will have to secure the support of a coalition that can gather enough allies to become the largest bloc.
The great absentee from these elections is the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who called for a boycott of what he called an “imperfect” electoral process. In 2021, al-Sadr had a majority in Parliament, from which he later withdrew following a dispute with Shiite parties who did not support his candidacy to form a government and who had united to form a broader alliance. The rift culminated in deadly clashes in Baghdad. The Sunni parties, on the other hand, are running separately, and former Speaker of Parliament Mohammed al-Halbussi is expected to achieve good results. The rivalry between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan remains intense in the autonomous region of Kurdistan.
