Ten days before the parliamentary elections, the great Iraqi Ayatollah Ali al Sistani broke a long silence to encourage everyone to participate with awareness and responsibility in the vote on 10 October. The religious leader tried to be balanced in his message, not optimistic and rather cautious. He advised his Shia followers to learn from the lessons of the past.
But the reality of the facts does not seem to corroborate his expectations of “real change”. The parties that have dominated so far are still taking advantage of the experience gained in the past four rounds of elections. Voting cards, including those with the names of dead people, are sold in packs. Money and jobs are being offered to influence voters. Candidates who come from protests that began two years ago and which cost the lives of seven hundred people have little chance of winning one of the 325 seats in the future parliament.
Chaldean patriarch Louis Raphael Sako was more pessimistic than Ayatollah Al Sistani. He complained that the electoral process is not well organized and is not meant to give Iraq a parliament that can be trusted, which can actually bring about positive change for the country, explaining that “the mentality of sectarianism and quotas it is still firmly rooted ”.
Invitation to the polls
President Barham Saleh confirmed in a meeting with the media that there had been fraud in previous elections, and that a lot of money is still running to buy votes. This is why there is a general lack of confidence in the elections. Everyone knows that the next government and future policies will be decided in the course of negotiations between the main parties, and that parliament is only a tool.
Even in light of these limitations, voting remains the surest way to steer the country towards a better future and avoid sinking into chaos and political obstruction. Voters should learn from past experiences and remember that their choices can shape the country’s future. Therefore they will have to take advantage of this opportunity to foster real change in public administration and to delegitimize the corrupt and incompetent.
This will be possible if conscious citizens join forces and participate en masse in the elections. Otherwise the failures of the previous parliaments and of the governments enacted by them will be repeated, and there can be no regrets.
A poll by the Al Riwaq foundation of 1,500 Iraqis eligible to vote reveals that 34 percent of respondents have no confidence in the electoral process, while 25 percent have “little” confidence.
(Translation by Francesco de Lellis)
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