Iraqis went to the polls on November 11 to vote in parliamentary elections. Preliminary results put the coalition of Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, in the lead. But no bloc has won anything close to a governing majority in the 329-seat parliament.
The country’s next government will be, as has been the pattern since the fall of longtime dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, assembled over the coming months through elite bargaining rather than a clear voter mandate. Elections in Iraq have turned into a ritual of continuity rather than a vehicle for change.
For the first time in years, officials celebrated what appeared to be a rise in voter participation. Iraq’s electoral commission announced a turnout of just over 55% of registered voters – a sharp jump from around 36% in the last parliamentary election in 2021. However, this figure masks a more sobering truth.
