Voter apathy and concerns about violence mark Iraq’s first provincial elections in a decade

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqis began voting for the first time in a decade Saturday to select new provincial council members, who in turn will appoint governors, with the outcome seen as a bellwether for the parliamentary election due to take place in 2025.

Saturday’s vote was restricted to military and security personnel and internally displaced people living in camps, with the main polling set to take place on Monday. Results are expected to be announced Tuesday.

Despite relatively high turnout in Saturday’s narrower polling, concerns were raised about a low voter turnout and potential violence spreading in the long-awaited polls on Monday in the country’s 18 provinces.

Muqtada al-Sadr, a powerful Shiite cleric and political leader who officially resigned from politics in 2022 amid a lengthy deadlock over Cabinet formation, has called on his supporters to boycott the provincial elections, saying that their participation would reinforce the dominance of a corrupt political class.

A widespread boycott would “reduce the legitimacy of the elections internationally and internally,” Sadr said in a statement.

In some areas, Sadr’s supporters ripped down electoral posters while several political campaign offices were vandalized. In the southern city of Najaf — a bastion of Sadr’s support — thousands marched on Thursday to urge a boycott of the elections.

Activists who staged mass anti-government protests in 2019 and are opposed to all the ruling parties also widely vowed to sit the polls out.

Apart from those actively boycotting the elections, many are simply apathetic.

Sajad Jiyad, an Iraqi political analyst and fellow at nonpartisan think tank The Century Foundation, pointed out that millions of eligible voters aren’t even registered, and low turnout has been a trend since 2005.

“All signs point to apathy among the general population,” he said. “Young people in particular are not engaged with politics, and no party has captured their imagination.”

Aqeel Al-Rubaie, a perfume shop owner in Baghdad, said that he and his family were sitting the polls out.