First results show low turnout in Iraqi elections – FOX23 News

BAGHDAD – (AP) – Turnout in Iraqi elections was 41%, preliminary results announced Monday, a record high in the post-Saddam Hussein era, signaling widespread distrust of voting for a new parliament .

The weekend’s election came months ahead of schedule as a concession to a youth-led popular uprising against corruption and mismanagement. But the vote was marked by generalized apathy and a boycott by many of the same young activists who took to the streets of Baghdad and the southern provinces of Iraq in late 2019, calling for change and new elections.

The Independent High Electoral Commission said on Monday that preliminary results show the turnout in Sunday’s elections was 41%. This is a drop from 44% in the 2018 election, which was an all-time low.

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in late 2019 and early 2020, and were greeted by security forces firing live ammunition and tear gas. More than 600 people have been killed and thousands injured in just a few months.

Although authorities caved in and called for snap elections, the death toll and brutal crackdown – along with a spate of targeted assassinations – prompted many protesters to later call for a boycott of the vote.

More definitive results were expected later Monday, but negotiations to choose a prime minister to form a government are expected to last weeks, if not months.

The election was the sixth since the fall of Saddam Hussein after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003. Many were skeptical that the independent candidates of the protest movement had a chance against parties and political parties. entrenched politicians, many of whom were backed by powerful armed militias.

There was a marked reluctance among young Iraqis – the country’s largest demographic group – to go out and vote. Many have expressed the view that the system is immune from reform and that the elections would only bring back the same faces and parties responsible for the corruption and mismanagement that have plagued Iraq for decades. The problems have left the country with crumbling infrastructure, growing poverty and rising unemployment rates.

Groups from the majority of Iraq’s Shiite Muslim factions were expected to come out on top, as has been the case since 2003, with a close race expected between the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and the Fatah-led Alliance. by paramilitary leader Hadi al-Ameri.

The Fatah Alliance is made up of parties and affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coordination group of mainly pro-Iranian Shiite militias that rose to prominence during the war against the extremist Sunni group Islamic State. It includes some of the toughest factions backed by Iran, such as the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia. Al-Sadr, a black-turbaned nationalist leader, is also close to Iran, but publicly rejects his political influence.

Under Iraqi laws, the party that wins the most seats can choose the country’s next prime minister, but it is unlikely that any of the competing coalitions can secure a clear majority. This will require a long process involving behind-the-scenes negotiations to select a consensus prime minister and agree on a new coalition government.

Current Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has played a key role as a mediator in the region’s crises, especially between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia. Many in the region and beyond will be watching to see if he gets a second term.

The new parliament will also elect the next Iraqi president.

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