Iraq's 'Elections': Another Chapter in the 'Democracy' We Installed?
The New Arab highlights anticipated low voter turnout for Iraq's upcoming elections (predicted 30-40% via GTM data layer), noting it's a stark contrast to the 80% seen in 2005. What they skip past, with the grace of a media outlet avoiding original sin, is the grand democratic experiment of 2005 itself. Iraq, for those whose memories don't extend past the current news cycle, was busy holding its
inaugural post-invasion elections. That's 'post-invasion' as in, after the US-led coalition, led by George W. Bush in 2003, 'liberated' it from Saddam Hussein's grasp, paving the way for a brand new, US-approved democracy. So, when you see headlines questioning the 'mattering' of Iraqi elections, perhaps the real question is how much they ever 'mattered' to those who installed the system in the
first place. One might wonder if continuous electoral cycles in a country destabilized by foreign intervention are less about true self-governance and more about maintaining a facade of stability for international consumption. A low turnout signals disillusionment, not necessarily a flaw in the Iraqi people, but perhaps in the 'democracy' handed to them, gift-wrapped in cluster munitions and
'nation-building' rhetoric.