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Elections Not Enough To Solve Iraqi Crisis

The 2014 elections are unlikely to salvage what remains of the Iraqi state after years of bitter political divisions.

Employees of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) take part in vote counting at an analysis centre in Arbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, about 350 km (230 miles) north of Baghdad, September 22, 2013. Iraqi Kurds voted on Saturday for a new parliament that analysts said was poised to lead the oil-producing region further down the road to greater autonomy from Baghdad. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ - Tags: ELECTIONS POLITICS) - RTX13V6S
Employees of the Independent High Electoral Commission take part in vote counting at an analysis center in Iraq, Sept. 22, 2013. — REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

Iraqi politicians are obviously unwilling and probably incapable of offering any consensual solutions to the exacerbating Iraqi crisis before the Iraqi parliamentary elections likely to be held in the middle of next year.

The main reason for this conviction is that the various parties are still hoping the elections will solve the crisis. This is not based on a firm conviction that elections are a democratic means for changing power, but rather on the hope that elections will change the current political map in favor of one party or another, allowing it to impose its vision of the solution.

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