“I am voting this time around because I believe it is our duty to at least contribute to some sort of an improvement to the country,” Omar*, a voter, told Rudaw English on Monday.
“Maybe this time there will be some sort of difference in the elections,” he added.
Iraqis will go to the polls on October 10, a year ahead of schedule. An early vote was a demand of protesters who took the streets in Baghdad two years ago, angry at the political establishment, endemic corruption, and economic woes. The Tishreen (October) protests succeeded in bringing down the government of former Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi, but were met with violence and a campaign of assassinations to silence the activist voices.
In this environment, calls for a boycott of the election have gained ground. Several parties from across the spectrum have announced they will not participate in the elections. Parties and voters are both questioning the legitimacy of the vote in an environment where powerful militias operate outside of government control, activists and election candidates are threatened, and the electoral commission and political elites are accused of fraud.
The Iraqi Communist Party has withdrawn from the race and is urging voters to boycott.
“Early elections were supposed to raise change, to open a door for change considering that the Tishreen demands had our and the peoples’ support,” Raid Jahid Fahmi, secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party, told Rudaw English on Tuesday.
But with the vote taking place two years after the protests, after delays and with impunity for the killers of protesters and activists, “The possibility of elections to make a change has been aborted,” he said. “Because this election will bring back the same results that caused the crisis, we will not participate in it.”
Some 2019 protesters are also among the groups boycotting the election. The protest parties that remain face the challenge of gaining votes under a new electoral law that radically changed the voting system.
Iraqi President Barham Salih signed the new electoral system into law last November. The system expanded the number of constituencies from 18 to 83 which is the number of quota seats for women, meaning every voting district will send at least one woman to the parliament. Smaller voting circles could improve contact between candidates and the public but may sideline smaller parties, including the protest parties.
Omar doubts the new parliament will include a party that represents the protesters.
“The 2019 protests were largely put down and I don’t believe there was a strong voice supporting them due to the recent assassinations of the activists that pushed for the protests,” he said. “I don’t believe there will be a party that will strongly represent the protestors from 2019.”
Voter turnout has steadily declined since 2005, from 79 percent to 45 percent in 2019. A recent poll predicted that 29 percent of eligible voters will cast ballots while 14 percent remain undecided.
Some voters who have chosen not to vote in previous elections will cast a ballot for the first time this year, hoping the tide of change can continue.
“There was no point in voting before,” said Ali*, who plans to vote this year for the first time.
“I feel like this election is going to be the last chance to change, especially since it’s after the 2019 protests. It is our last chance to change our reality,” he told Rudaw English on Monday.
There are a total of 3,249 candidates vying for 329 seats in the parliament. The official campaign period began on July 8 but has so far been lackluster.
*Names have been changed at their request
