ROMA (ITALPRESS) – Iraqis are called to vote today to choose a new Parliament, in elections carefully observed by Tehran and Washington that could define the future of the country in a decisive regional phase. It is the sixth legislative elections since the American invasion that broke the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003, in a Iraq full of oil resources that lives its stability after decades of conflicts that have devastated infrastructure and generated widespread corruption. The urns are open today in Iraq for the general vote for the renewal of the House of Representatives. According to the Iraqi Independent Electoral Commission, the voting process will continue until 18:00 local time (16:00 CET).
Preliminary results are expected within 24 hours of closing the seats. The Iraqi voters are flocking to the 4.501 voting centres to elect a Parliament of 329 members, in a context of high regional tensions and struggle for internal stability. The authorities recorded about 21 million Iraqis eligible to vote in the general elections, but the forecasts indicate low turn due to the boycott of the sadistic movement, one of the country’s leading Shiite forces. On the security front, the army deployed thousands of soldiers in the cities and villages to protect the electoral centres, although the specific security plan for the elections does not provide drachonian or curfew measures.
The Iraqi Ministry of Defense, in a press release, indicated that the security plans were prepared in six months, including simulations and deployment of units in the last two months. Politically, the results are not expected to cause dramatic changes in the balance of power, but the salient element of this electoral round is the deep division within the coalition of government, since the outgoing prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced the intention to relapse for a second term. In the late evening of yesterday, the coalition of government declared that it was “committed to protect the electoral and political process, guaranteeing integrity and transparency”, stressing that “the security of elections is a shared national responsibility”.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
