Iraqis were voting in small numbers on Sunday in a parliamentary election that many said they would boycott, having lost faith in the democratic system brought in by the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.
The established, Shi'ite Islamist-dominated ruling elite whose most powerful parties have armed wings is expected to sweep the vote, with the movement led by populist Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who opposes all foreign interference and whose main rivals are Iran-allied Shi'ite groups, seen emerging as parliament's biggest faction.
Election volunteer Hamid Majid, 24, said he had voted for his old school teacher, a candidate for the Sadrists. "I’m not going to vote and my family won’t vote either, said Murtadha Nassir, a 27-year-old man in the southern city of Nassiriya, who participated in protests and watched friends gunned down by security forces.Nonetheless, some Iraqis were keen to vote in what is Iraq's fifth parliamentary vote since 2003 - and are hopeful of change. In the northern city of Kirkuk, Abu Abdullah said he arrived to vote an hour before polling stations opened.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi is not running for election but the negotiations after the vote could yet see him get a second term. Kadhimi who is viewed as Western-friendly has no party to back him. Kadhimi's government called the vote early in response to anti-establishment protests in 2019 that toppled the previous administration.
But endemic corruption and mismanagement has meant many of Iraq's 40 million people are without work, and lack healthcare, education and electricity.