By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

Parliamentary polls were held with enthusiasm in neighbouring Iraq yesterday in response to the call of the religious authorities in holy Najaf amidst feverish propaganda by the Zionist-controlled western media horns to try to discourage voters from turning out in large numbers.
There were no reports of any untoward incidents as security forces were on full alert against any attempt by the US-supported Daesh terrorists to carry out threats of bomb blasts, although there were stray incidents of protests by elements who are not in a position to influence the trend of voting or its results, and their main goal is to merely attract the attention of the western media.
This is the fifth general elections in post Ba’thist Iraq and the result will decide the composition of the new government, which is likely to be formed again by the country’s long suppressed Shi’a Muslim Arab majority.
Of the 25 million registered eligible voters from among the estimated population of 40 million, of whom some 27 million are Shi’a Muslims – the rest being ethnic Kurds of the north, followed by the Sunni Arab minority of the west, and the fringe groups of Christians, Yazidis, and Mandeans – the majority is expected to turn out at the ballot boxes.
Over 3,250 candidates, including 950 women, are competing for the 329-seat parliament. If no single party succeeds in gaining the required 50 percent quorum for forming the government on its own, then there will be horse trading to set up a coalition cabinet.
As could be gauged from the prevailing atmosphere and the mood of the people, the Hashd ash-Sha’bi or the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), which played the key role in routing the macabrely murderous Takfiri terrorists, thanks to timely help from the Islamic Republic of Iran in both advisors and armaments, are likely to be at the helm of affairs – similar to the result of the last elections in 2018.
This augurs good for the stability, unity, prestige, and future of oil-rich Iraq which ought to be a truly independent country, free of the undesirable presence of any American or European terrorist troops.
The Iraqi people, despite religious and ethnic diversity, yearn to be a united nation, and have realized that their real enemies are the US and its clients in the region who do not want the Land of the Two Rivers to prosper.
These detractors, however, will fail in their bid, and Iraq after the elections will emerge as a vital component of the Axis of Resistance that stretches from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, and views the illegal existence of Israel as an impediment to the security of West Asia.
According to the constitution, the Prime Minister of Iraq has to be a Shi’a Muslim exercising executive powers, and the Parliamentary Speaker a Sunni Muslim, while the President’s post is reserved for an ethnic Kurd.
This fair division of power ought to make the country set up a broad-based administration.
To make the country function smoothly, the new government should immediately order the exit of the CENTCOM terrorists from the sacred soil of Iraq, and also make sure that there is no room in the country for traitors, treacherous elements, and their treason in siding with the enemies.