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Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary election will not bring about any decisive changes. Elections do not cause significant power shifts; they can only reflect the power shifts that have already taken place.
Iraq’s election campaign is marked by the usual mixture of unrealistic promises, verbal attacks against competitors, and attempts by parties to appropriate symbols that do not properly belong to any one faction, as well as, more worryingly, the certainty voiced by all alliances that the elections will be marred by fraud.
Iraqis head to the polls on Sunday for what is considered a fundamental test of the fledgling democracy. While the results of the parliamentary elections will help determine Iraq’s stability and may influence the drawdown of U.S. forces, the voting is only one step in the country’s political transition.
Turkey's constitution, imposed by the military in 1982, must be redrafted if the country is to move towards a more responsive political system and avoid repeating the cycle of paralysis followed by heavy-handed military and judicial intervention.
Rather than pursuing its annual Armenian genocide resolution, the U.S. Congress should focus its efforts on helping to mediate a reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia that would put an end to Armenia’s economic isolation.
Due to the deep divisions among the likely winners in the elections, the Shi’i parties, the March 7 elections will just be the first step in determining the distribution of power in the Iraqi political system.
Over the next year, Egypt will hold three important elections, none of which stand any chance of redistributing power in the country. Egypt needs long-term democratic reforms, and the United States can play an effective role in promoting those reforms.
The Iraqi ad-hoc appeals panel, established to examine the Justice and Accountability Commission’s decision to ban over 500 candidates from the upcoming parliamentary elections, has concluded its work and has reinstated only 26 candidates.
For the Kurds, the forthcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections are a litmus test for the viability of the power-sharing agreement between the various political, ethnic, and religious groups in the Kurdistan region.
The Obama administration, thwarted in its attempts to engage Iran in serious negotiations on its nuclear ambitions, must now unite the international community behind targeted sanctions that will refrain from undermining Iran’s opposition movement.