“I will only go because I want my name stricken off the voters’ list to prevent my electoral card from being used in favor of any particular faction, as I do not like any of the nominees and therefore do not  want to vote for any of them.” This was how journalist Naza Kouran answered the question about her desire to cast her vote in the Provincial Council elections scheduled to take place on Saturday. Concerning the level of participation, Kouran did not express optimism that it would be high, “because participation will be limited to partisan and clan supporters of the nominees,” she said.

This, however, was not the opinion expressed by Taleb Hassan, an inhabitant of Sadr City (the largest popular base of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr), who said, “I will strive to record my choice to represent me in the Provincial Council, because that person alone will be able to fulfill my needs.”

Concerning the efficacy of previous Provincial Councils, and their role in providing citizens with necessary services, Taleb said: “I know that past Provincial Councils failed to fully provide for the citizens’ needs, but that does not preclude me from trying to choose a better option this time around.”

Thirteen million Iraqi voters are expected to head to the ballot boxes on Saturday [April 20] and elect new representatives to the councils of 12 governorates for the third consecutive time, following the 2005 and 2009 elections. Excluded will be Kirkuk, which is a contested area, the three provinces of Kurdistan, and the provinces of Anbar and Nineveh, which decided to postpone elections as a result of the nonstop demonstrations that have raged there for more than three months.