The Iraqi Electoral Commission said late Saturday that the turnout in the parliament elections amounted to 43 percent, a slight increase from the preliminary results, but lower than the last elections that were held in 2018.
The Electoral Commission had announced in preliminary results that the participation rate is 41 percent.
Minimum ratio
The voter turnout in the 2018 elections was 44.5 percent, while the participation rate in the first elections that Iraq witnessed after the demise of the former regime in 2005 was about 62.4 percent.
This means that the last legislative elections that took place on the 10th of October witnessed the lowest participation ever.
Observers say that the low participation rate is evidence of the popular rejection of the political class that has ruled the country for 18 years, and is surrounded by accusations of corruption and mismanagement.
The turnout is very important because it shows how much voters trust the political system.
According to the Electoral Commission in Iraq, at least 167 parties and more than 3,200 candidates are competing for the 329 parliament seats, according to “Reuters”.
The chest is a winner
The Sadrist bloc won 73 seats in parliament, far ahead of its closest competitor, the “Progress” bloc, which won 37 seats.
After the results were announced, the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, issued a statement in which he affirmed, “It became clear to us that (the Sadrist bloc) is the (largest) electoral and popular bloc.”
He added, “We will seek national alliances, not sectarian or ethnic, and under the tent of reform, and in accordance with the aspirations of the people to form a service government.”
He continued, “There is no difference between a Shiite, a Sunni, a Christian, a Sahib, a Kurd, a Turkmen, a Faili, a Shabak, or a Yazidi…except with righteousness, giving, dedication and love of the homeland.”
He said that the priority of the next government is to expose corruption and support reform.
The need for alliances
And the agency “Agence France Presse” says that although al-Sadr won the largest number of seats in parliament, he still has to agree with other forces such as the Popular Mobilization Forces, despite the decline in their electoral performance.
She said that al-Sadr’s takeover of the post of prime minister is still unlikely.
“The results give al-Sadr the upper hand on the political scene and in negotiations. But that is not the only important factor,” Renad Mansour, a researcher at the British “Chatham House” Center, explains to AFP, explaining that “he must negotiate with other major blocs.”
The elections were held several months early in response to mass protests that erupted in 2019 that toppled the government and revealed widespread anger against political leaders who many Iraqis say have made fortunes for themselves at the country’s expense.
Independents in the heart of Najaf
It was remarkable in the Iraqi elections that independents, some of whom were secular, won the seats in the holy city of Najaf, which is sacred to Shiites. In the last elections, religious parties dominated the seats in this city.
This “coup” can be explained in the city’s voter turnout in the atmosphere of the protests that have been taking place since 2019 against pro-Iranian parties, as new elites emerged who found an opportunity in the elections to express themselves.
Among the winners for Najaf are Muhammad Anouz, Hadi al-Salami, Abd al-Hadi al-Abbasi, and Hadir Tariq, who classify themselves as independents.
Retreat of Iran loyalists
On the other hand, the “State of Law” bloc loyal to former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki won only one seat in the province.
From 48 seats in the previous parliament, the number of seats in the Al-Fateh Alliance, which represents the Popular Mobilization and includes pro-Iranian factions that have become part of the official forces, has fallen to less than half, but the number of its fighters is about 160,000, according to observers’ estimates. With the support of its ally Iran, the Hashd remains an unsurpassable force in Iraqi politics.
This retreat led forces loyal to Iran to denounce the occurrence of “manipulation” and “fraud” in the results of the electoral process, which opens the way for difficult negotiations between the political blocs seeking to dominate a fragmented parliament.
“The commission must announce the results transparently, as well as provide all evidence, evidence and proof that the votes were not withheld,” said Ahmed Al-Asadi, a spokesman for the Al-Fateh Alliance.
The decline in the popularity of the forces loyal to Iran does not come as a surprise to observers, in a country that escalated anger towards Tehran, especially after the bloody suppression of the “Tishreen” protests in 2019, especially with accusations of these forces being involved in the killing of demonstrators.
.