Iraq Elections Won't Achieve Any Change, Protesters Warn

Today, voters take to the ballot box seven months earlier than planned, but with rallies often being met with deadly force, revolutionaries lack hope. Bel Trew reportsfrom Nassiriya

The Iraqi protesters point to the smiling photo of their friend Ahmad, 26, who was stabbed to death last year during antigovernment rallies, when asked why they are boycotting today’s early election.

Sitting on the floor of one of their homes in the simmering city of Nassiriya, the young men also cite the disappearance of their other friend Sajjad al-Iraqi, a prominent local activist. He was kidnapped at gunpoint by unknown armed groups last September and is still missing.

The election, taking place seven months early, was a key demand of Iraq’s Tishreen uprising which erupted in October 2019 when hundreds of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets demanding jobs, better infrastructure and the removal of the corrupt ruling elite and their affiiated armed factions.

But in Nassiriya – Iraq’s fourth-largest city that has increasingly become the heartbeat of the revolt – many say the elections will achieve nothing.

“Believe me, if we thought participation in this election would bring about any change, nothing would stop us voting,” says Seif, 24, a pharmacy graduate who first joined the uprising as a volunteer medic.

The protests have been met with deadly force; at least 600 protesters and security personnel have been killed nationwide since they started. Nassiriya has seen some of the worst violence.

“This system is too broken to achieve any change because of the main players in it who still hold all the power.”

Next to him is Hayder, 23, who was initially so excited by the vote he joined a newly formed independent political party called Beit Watani (National Home), which has since dropped out of the race.