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This Time, Iraq Gets Politics With Its Elections

Stability gives candidates chance to compete more in Western democratic style

By Ambreen Ali, Newser User

Posted Jan 22, 2009 10:55 AM CST

(Newser) – If Iraq’s tumultuous 2005 elections were a trial run at democracy, the current provincial race has main-event flavor, the Washington Post reports. Greater stability has allowed town-hall gatherings, where voters grill some 14,000 candidates running for 440 seats on everything from housing to militarization. And campaign posters, T-shirts and jingles are ubiquitous ahead of the Jan. 31 vote.

Unprecedented candidate diversity challenges the establishment. About 30% are women; many are Sunni Arabs who boycotted the last election; and many races pit Shiites against one another. The results will determine the power balance among parties and between central and provincial authorities. Many also see the election as a referendum on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s party—and thereby his rule.

[Images (8)]

[Videos (1)]

[Quotes (1)]

An Iraqi security guard is seen near boxes of ballots to be used in the upcoming provincial elections at Baghdad airport. (AP Photo)

Candidates in the upcoming provincial elections participate in a debate held at a country club in central Baghdad. (AP Photo)

Workers prepare to install an election banner in Baghdad. (AP Photo)

Displaced people look for their names on a voter registration list to find their polling center for the upcoming provincial elections in Sulaimaniyah, 160 miles northeast of Baghdad. (AP Photo)

A welder prepares to install an election banner in Baghdad. (AP Photo)

Campaign posters for candidates in the upcoming provincial elections are seen in Amarah, Iraq. (AP Photo)

A printer examines campaign posters for various candidates in Iraq's upcoming provincial elections at a shop in central Baghdad. (AP Photo)

Iraqi boys pass election posters pasted on a wall bordering a cemetery in the Shiite city of Najaf. (AP Photo)

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Two sons are running against each other for office in one Iraqi province. (CNN Video)

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Democracy is the only way of getting rid of dictators and violence. It will not end this election or next. It will take a whole generation. - Ali Khalderi, TV reporter

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This Time, Iraq Gets Politics With Its Elections