Iraqi voter turnout appears dismal
BAGHDAD – Iraqis went to the polls on Saturday to vote in pivotal elections set to determine the country’s post-islamic State future after a difficult four-year war to defeat the jihadist group.
Few surprises were expected in the battle for 329 parliamentary seats. With almost 7,000 candidates, many of them newcomers, it is expected that familiar faces will emerge victorious. Those political figures have managed – or mismanaged, some would say – the country since the ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The elections took place in a climate of escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran, countries that have competing interests in Iraq but have forged an uneasy alliance in the fight to roll back the gains of jihadists established four years ago.
Turnout was low in the early hours of polling, which began at 7 a.m. amid tight security and a car curfew launched at midnight.
In the capital, many voters had to walk long distances to reach polling stations, while children took advantage of what would normally have been traffic-choked streets to skate, cycle or play soccer.
Before noon, Prime Minister Haider al-abadi ordered the curfew lifted in what was thought to be a bid to encourage more people to come out to vote, but it appeared to have little effect even with 30 minutes before polls closed at 6 p.m.
“We’ve gotten only about 32 percent of people registered to this center,” said Nibras Hmood, the head of a voting center in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karada, where journalists covering the voting process often outnumbered those in the booths.
It seemed little better elsewhere in the country, and unofficial tallies later by Iraqi news outlets confirmed the lowest voter turnout since 2003, with observers estimating a dismal 25 percent participation rate.
Still, those who made the trek to the polling stations, such as Murtada Sahi, a 22-year-old soldier, insisted on the importance of the vote.
“I voted four years ago and it’s true, we didn’t see any changes, but perhaps we’ll get something this time,” he said.