Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • The Christian Science Monitor

    In Iraq, a ‘post-sectarian’ election, yet challenges to democracy linger

    May 10, 2018 5 minutes
    Election posters line the streets in Baghdad, April 17, 2018, for parliamentary elections May 12, what is billed by candidates as Iraq's first post-sectarian vote.

    Their car stuck in sweltering Baghdad traffic, the Iraqi men spotted a foreign news photographer on the sidewalk taking pictures of a wall of campaign posters.

    “They’re all thieves!” shouted one of the men, about the candidates in Iraq’s May 12 elections. “We won’t vote!”

    When polls open Saturday morning, Iraqis will be choosing from some 7,000 candidates for 329 seats in parliament. It’s the first nationwide election since the declaration last year that the Islamic State (ISIS) had been defeated after a devastating three-year war.

    This election season, some characteristics of Iraqi politics are new, such as a shift away from divisive, overt sectarian campaign rhetoric – among Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds alike – that has dominated public political discourse since US forces invaded Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003. Taking its place are more bread-and-butter issues, such as local services and combating corruption.

    Little trust in parties, parliamentSame old facesGetting out the vote

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from The Christian Science Monitor

    The Christian Science Monitor4 min read
    Singer Laura Veirs Finds Creativity Everywhere: Bikes, Skates, Power Saws
    For Laura Veirs, cycling was a time for crying. It was 2018. Few would have suspected that the songwriter’s life was unraveling. Two years earlier, a supergroup collaboration with Neko Case and k.d. lang had elevated her profile. Her latest solo albu
    The Christian Science Monitor2 min read
    Why This Olympics Feels Festive
    Soon after Olympic swimmer Lydia Jacoby won her first gold medal in 2021 at the Tokyo Games, she graced the winners’ podium in a white tracksuit, her red hair tied up in a bun and her face hidden – under an N95 mask. Because of COVID-19 restrictions,
    The Christian Science Monitor2 min readInternational Relations
    Opportunity Knocks In Central Asia
    A historical term in geopolitics – the Great Game, or when big powers fought to control the heartland of the Eurasian supercontinent – may need to be retired. Over the past two years, many countries in Central Asia and the Caspian basin have seen a f

    Related Books & Audiobooks