Turnout of Iraqis in
parliamentary elections acceptable

 Baghdad (Qodsna) - Iraq's fifth Parliamentary election has ended with reports that the Iraqi Election Commission has announced a turnout of 41 percent.

In this election, about 25 million people were eligible to vote, of which 9 million and seventy-seven thousand people participated in the elections.

Given the protests against the inefficiency of the government and the spread of corruption, as well as security threats and the efforts of certain media outlets to keep the turnout low, the turnout of 41% in a snap election is considered a positive step.

This was the fifth election since the overthrow of the Iraqi Ba'ath party, but it was the first early election. Following the resignation of Adel al-Mahdi, which resulted from the intervention of the United States and some Arab regimes such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Mustafa al-Kadhimi was elected as the Prime Minister, whose main task was to hold a snap election.

Expatriate Iraqis did not participate in the election, which was limited to 83 polling stations inside Iraq.

Experts believe that given the current situation, this level of public participation has not been unexpected compared to the previous elections. The Iraqi people are now waiting for the formation of the parliament and the election of the next prime minister and government. Given the current situation and the outcome of the election, the formation of the government does not seem to be taking longer.

It is worth mentioning that a comparative study of the level of political participation of the people in the elections shows that the level of participation of Iraqis in the parliamentary elections this year has decreased compared to previous periods. But this level of participation, as mentioned, despite all the negative variables active in Iraqi society, such as security threats, attempts to spread differences between political, ethnic and religious currents, the inefficiency of the al-Kadhimi government, foreign interference, especially the US and Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and comparing the declining trend of turnout in previous elections according to the table below, the result was not far from expectations, but it can be considered a positive and acceptable step.

News-ID: SH-60