For one thing turnout lagged pretty sizably behind expectations – early estimates put them at 51%, a good deal below the 60% that the government was touting in pre-election estimates. And the Iraqis didn’t even bother to hold elections in the three northern provinces that make up the self-styled Kurdish homeland nor did they hold elections in the city of Kirkuk, which both the Iraqi Arab and Iraqi Kurd factions are claiming as their own (check out this post for a little more detail on the whole Kirkuk conundrum). Elections in these regions will be held “later.”
The elections did go off relatively violence-free, and that is noteworthy considering the anarchical state of Iraq just a couple of years ago. Also noteworthy was the fact that of the 14,000 candidates in the general elections, around 4,000 of them were women, so Iraq deserves kudos for writing laws that guarantee women access to the political process.
But again, this isn’t the triumph that it first appears to be. During the reign of Saddam Hussein, Iraq was arguably the most moderate of all the countries in the region when it came to women’s rights. Women could seek higher education, own property, and work outside the home – they could even be the bosses of men in the workplace. Contrast that with Iraq’s neighbor to the south, Saudi Arabia, where a woman who leaves home without her husband or another male relative invites a public flogging (literally). It wasn’t until Iraq was liberated from Saddam and thrown into the hands of religious extremists, each with their own private militia, that women had to don the veil and stay at home.
The first official results from the election should be made public on Tuesday, and they are expected to strengthen the hand of Iraq’s current Prime Minister (and budding strongman in his own right) Nouri al-Maliki.
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