Iraqi Parties to Seek Revenge In Provincial Elections
Saleem Al-Hasani writes that the upcoming provincial elections will be seen as an opportunity for settling scores among Iraq's political parties.
Iraqis will head to provincial elections harboring a desire for electoral revenge. The precise date of the upcoming elections has not been decided yet, but preliminary estimates point to March 2013.
Citizens will be eager to cast their votes, for they wish to eliminate former figures from the scene. Iraqis’ experience with these officials was not pleasant; they heard many promises but unemployment rates remained high, services stayed just as bad as ever and the security situation continued to deteriorate. Iraqis have observed up close their outrageous behaviors, as they went to-and-fro to their bureaus.
Democratic Iraq has undergone many electoral experiences that uncovered a deep-seated collective resentment. Promises have never been met and candidates turned a deaf ear after they were elected. Such a recurrence has pushed Iraqi voters into a state of deep regret that is expressed in private, in public and on satellite channels.
The powerful political parties fear this phenomenon and know for sure that votes will not be cast in their favor this time. This fact, though, will not deter these parties from finding a solution to this problem since provincial elections are the portal of parliamentary elections, which clarify the position of each party in the Iraqi political arena.
