Noticias

Iraq Wednesday held its third parliamentary elections since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. The vote was also the first after the withdrawal of the U.S. forces in 2011. Over 22 million voters were eligible to cast their ballots to choose 328 lawmakers out of more than 9,000 candidates.Here’s a look at the major political players and lists in the race:

Such was Saddam Hussein's charisma that Iraqi men were known to style their moustaches like his, and families named their children as he had his own.

Though thought brutal by some, he was admired by others for his taste in sharp suits and his flamboyant ways. Every Iraqi knew stories about Saddam.

But ask them about their current leader, Nouri al-Maliki - in power since 2006 and perhaps set to secure a third term - and they'll mostly just shrug their shoulders.

The truth is, many Iraqis think he is boring.

As Iraq prepares for the first nationwide election since the withdrawal of US troops in 2011, the fears of Sunni Iraqis have doubled amid soaring sectarian tension and marginalization by Nouri Al-Maliki Shiite government.

“I will vote for a change,” Abu Noor, 45-year-old Iraqi Sunni, was quoted by Agence France Presse (AFP) on Tuesday, April 29.

If Maliki won a third term, “we will leave,” he said, adding, “We cannot wait for these people to stay for another four or five years.”

Snipers line the rooftops across Falluja, waiting for a chance to shoot at government soldiers, should they try to invade. Homes have been wired to explode, too, just in case the government rushes the city. And roads have been studded with countless steel-plated bombs, of the type that killed so many American soldiers here.

Twin bombings at a Shiite political party's rally in Baghdad killed 28 people on Friday, a security spokesman said, just days before nationwide parliamentary elections.

A car bomb followed by a suicide attack hit the campaign rally for the Sadiqun bloc, the political wing of the Asaib Ahel al-Haq militia, interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan said.

Dozens more were wounded, he added.

The Iraqi parliamentary elections will be held on April 30th at a time when the political arena continues to be marked by an increasing number of conflicts and fragmentation. A number of political blocs are being formed due to many factors, the most prominent of which are the policies of President Nouri Al-Maliki and his investment in the Iraqi state in a way that benefits his Islamic Dawa Party. At the same time, Al-Maliki has also deepened rifts among his political opponents and has worked to link them with cases marked by corruption and laziness.

With the launch earlier this month of campaigns for the April 30 parliamentary elections, Iraq is back to debating the fact that none of the political blocs has put forward an electoral program or platform. The blocs, misunderstanding the concept of a political program, have instead reduced them to vague slogans.

A “crisis” between current Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and the Sadrist movement will erupt following the legislative elections later this month, according to comments by veteran Iraqi MP Hassan Al-Alawi on Monday.

Alawi, an independent MP who is running in the April 30 poll as a member of the Sadrist Movement, said that a clash between the movement and the prime minister’s State of Law Coalition over the shape of the next government of Iraq was all but inevitable.

Election campaigning in the multi-ethnic province of Kirkuk is causing tension in the disputed territory. Campaigners have come to blows, local police have put a curfew on electioneering and analysts warn of more bloodshed to come. After all, they say, in Kirkuk this isn't just about getting elected. It's about who really owns this troubled province.