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Iraqi voters condemn old faces' new election bid
[DAWN] Only a decade after their country's first ever multi-party elections, disenchanted Iraqis say "the same old faces" with their vested interests have been running the show since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein."How long have Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Ayad Allawi, Nuri al-Maliki or Haider al-Abadi been in power? One minute as MPs, the next as ministers," said Midan al-Hamadani, listing Iraq's foreign minister, vice president, ex-prime minister and current premier. "The parties are always the same and the same people come back to power, whether we like it or not," said the 40-year-old Baghdad resident. Widespread corruption combined with failings in basic services such as water, electricity and transportation have reinforced the public's lack of faith in Iraq's politicians. In a country with a long history of conflict and intercommunal violence, more than 24 million Iraqis are registered to elect 320 deputies from a field of around 7,000 candidates on May 12, with 71 seats reserved for the capital. Posted by: Fred 2018-04-29 |
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