Although many now celebrate the shift from identity– to issue-based politics in Iraq, this election reveals that change will not come as quickly as analysts might expect. Fragmentation of the Shiite blocIn the first post-war election (2005), the United Iraqi Alliance (al-Itilaf al-Watani al-Iraqi) represented all major Shiite parties and won a majority (56 percent) of the seats in parliament, under the “demography equals democracy” logic. Similarly, the major Sunni and Kurdish parties — at one point united under single lists — are split into a number of competing parties. For the most part, Shiite leaders will win the Shiite vote, Kurdish leaders will win the Kurdish vote and Sunnis leaders will win the Sunni vote. In the name of inclusivity, post-2003 Iraq featured Shiite, Kurd and Sunni leaders.

Source: Washington Post May 07, 2018 09:00 UTC