Iraq elections reading list

Feeling a little out of the loop regarding today’s election? Read up on MEE’s coverage of the many issues at stake in the polls.

• Early elections were among the many demands of the 2019 uprising - but the Tishreen movement is fractured
• Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has been calling for Iraqis to turn out and vote - but can he curb the power of Iran-backed militias?
• Meanwhile, the Iran-backed Fatah party dealt with last-minute blows that may impact the number of votes it had expected to receive
• Iraq’s beleaguered Yazidi minority may be divided, but sees a record number of candidates in Sinjar
• Lack of accessibility at polling stations is depriving hundreds of thousands of disabled Iraqis of their right to vote
• Journalists and activists have meanwhile been at risk amid pre-election tensions, like Ali Abdel Zahra, who has been missing since Thursday.

MEE columnists have also shared their analyses on what the elections mean:

• Harith Hasan warns that elections will not prevent the next political crisis
• Ruling parties fear the worst, Akeel Abbas writes
• But Ibrahim al-Marashi argues that the political elite will prevail.