41pc turnout in Iraq Parliamentary election 2021 reported

41pc turnout in Iraq Parliamentary election 2021 reported.

The electoral commission said early on Monday the lowest turnout noted in Baghdad, with between 31% and 34pc.

According to reports, the commission said initial turnout in Iraq’s parliamentary election on Sunday remained 41 percent.

41pc turnout in Iraq Parliamentary election 2021 reported

However, such a result would not dramatically alter the balance of power in Iraq or the wider Middle East, according Iraqi officials and foreign diplomats and analysts.

At least 167 parties and more than 3,200 candidates are competing for parliament’s 329 seats, according to the election commission.

But for Iraqis it could mean that a former resistance leader and conservative Islamist could increase his sway over the government.

Total turnout in 2018 election stood at 44.5 percent.

Two electoral commission officials told Reuters on Sunday that nationwide turnout of eligible voters noted 19pc by midday.

However, the Commission official Muhammad Mustafa said turnout picked up in the final hours of voting.

Initial results remain expected on Monday.

In Baghdad’s Sadr City, a polling station set up in a girls’ school saw a slow but steady trickle of voters.

Election volunteer Hamid Majid, 24, said he had voted for his old school teacher, a candidate for the Sadrists.

He further said she educated many of us in the area so all the young people are voting for her. It’s the time for the Sadrist Movement.

The election held several months early under a new law designed to help independent candidates – a response to widespread anti-government protests two years ago.

FOREIGN INFLUENCE

As per Reuters report, the United States, it allied Gulf Arab regimes and Israel on one side and Iran on the other compete to influence Iraq.

The 2003 invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, and Iraqis opposed war but supported democracy under new Constitution. That democratic set up catapulted to power majority Arab Shias as well as non-Arab Sunni Kurds whom Saddam regime oppressed.

Iraqis remain keen to vote in Iraq’s fifth parliamentary vote since 2003 because they remain hopeful of change.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, Abu Abdullah said he arrived to vote an hour before polling stations opened.

Furthermore, he said we expect the situation to improve significantly.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi had not run for election but the negotiations after the vote could yet see him get a second term.

Kadhimi, viewed as Western-friendly, has no party to back him.

The Kurds have two main parties that rule the autonomous Kurdistan region, while Sunni Arabs also have two main blocs.

GTV