'I love Iraq'

While the elections seem to generate very little enthusiasm across Iraq, as many who supported the October 2019 uprising feel the political system is too corrupt to achieve meaningful change - some Iraqis told Middle East Eye that they still believed voting could make a difference.

Yasser Jabar, 52, lost six close family members in a 2006 explosion that targeted a police station just metres from the very polling centre where he came to vote in Kirkuk.

“Since the explosion, I’ve had nothing from the government. No compensation and no help at all,” he told MEE. 

Sucking on half a lemon - a popular habit locally believed to reduce chances of catching Covid-19 - he nonetheless said that he had taken time off work to vote.

“I believe that my vote can make a change if there really is justice and honesty," he said.

Mohamed Rashat Ahmed, an 82-year-old Turkmen, was upset to see how deserted the Kirkuk polling station was early on Sunday.

“We are all Iraqi and we should not be divided,” he shouted in the empty halls.

Speaking to MEE’s Tom Westcott, he added: “I have a message for Britain and America: Please, get out of our country and leave us in peace. We can do it ourselves. We lived like brothers and sisters before and we can do it again."

The elderly man then turned to kiss an Iraqi flag hanging from a window.

“I love Iraq,” he said passionately, before breaking down in tears.