27 Boycott calls, sparse turnout: Iraqis vote in parliamentary election

Baghdad: Iraqis headed to the polls on Tuesday to vote in a parliamentary election marked by tight security and a boycott by a major political bloc.

A total of 8,703 polling stations were open across the country for the general election. Members of the security forces and displaced people living in camps cast their ballots in early voting on Sunday. Turnout was sparse in the early hours of Tuesday at polling stations. Initial results were expected on Wednesday. Only 21.4 million out of a total of 32 million eligible voters updated their information and obtained voter cards ahead of the polling, a decrease from the last parliamentary election in 2021, when about 24 million voters registered.

The election is taking place against the backdrop of major shifts in the region over the past two years — including the wars in Gaza and Lebanon after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, the Israel-Iran war in June, and the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad last December.

These developments come as US pressure intensifies on the Iraqi government to curb the influence of Iran-aligned armed factions, some of which have candidates participating in Tuesday’s vote. Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani, who is running for a second term, arrived at a polling station in Baghdad to cast his vote, along with his mother.

The election “asserts the principle of peaceful transfer of power” and “the people’s commitment to this democratic practice,”

Sudani said. Agencies