(CNN) — Iraqis voted Saturday in their first parliamentary elections since the defeat of ISIS last year, with the economy, jobs, security and corruption high on the list of voters’ concerns as the country seeks to rebuild after years of conflict.
Nearly 7,000 candidates contested 329 seats in the parliament, of which a quarter must go to women. More than 24 million Iraqis registered to vote, according to Iraq’s electoral commission, and more than 55,000 polling stations opened across the country.
Polls closed at 6 p.m. local time. It could be days before the winners are announced.
Under the power-sharing system installed after the 2003 US-led invasion, the position of prime minister is reserved for a Shiite.
Incumbent Haider al-Abadi, who’s been in power since 2014, is hoping to win back the top job. But the country’s Shiite bloc has splintered into five major coalitions, making it hard to predict which will come out on top.
Whoever wins will still need to reach out to other blocs, including Sunni and Kurdish coalitions, to form a governing alliance.
The next prime minister will then face the daunting task of stabilizing a nation scarred by ISIS’ rise and still plagued by sectarian division at a critical juncture in its history.
Abadi credited with defeating ISIS
Abadi, who heads the Nasr, or Victory, coalition, is widely credited in Iraq with helping to reconstruct the Iraqi Army and defeat ISIS. He hoped to capitalize on that support even as many voters lamented a lack of improvement in their daily lives.
Ahead of the election, Abadi sought to broaden his coalition to bring in significant Sunni figures and avoid overt sectarianism — and his was the only coalition running in all 18 of Iraq’s provinces. He cast his vote Saturday in the Baghdad neighborhood where he was born.
During the war against ISIS, Abadi succeeded in balancing the interests of Iraq’s powerful neighbor, Iran, and the United States, as well as significantly improving relations with Saudi Arabia and boosting Iraq’s diplomatic standing overall.
Baghdad also regained control of disputed oil-rich fields in Kirkuk last year following a contentious Kurdish independence referendum in September. While that has not endeared Abadi to many Kurds, outside the Kurdish region he is credited with taking a strong position and reasserting central government control without major bloodshed.
But many Iraqis are also frustrated by the limited change they’ve seen in their daily lives.
Among their complaints are a dearth of job opportunities, a struggling economy and crumbling infrastructure, with frequent power cuts. They also lament poor government services and slow reconstruction in areas such as Tikrit, Falluja and Mosul that were devastated in the battle against ISIS.
Corruption is another major issue, blamed by many Iraqis for their country’s failure to translate the wealth from its natural resources into a better life for all its citizens.
Chief rivals
Abadi’s chief rivals included former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who leads the State of Law coalition.
During his two terms in power, from 2006 to 2014, Maliki was widely seen as having alienated a large part of the Sunni population and by doing so having prepared the ground for the rise of ISIS. But he maintains significant support and has close ties to Iran.
Another significant contender was Hadi al-Amiri, who heads the Fatah (Conquest) coalition and also has strong links with Tehran, having spent much of his youth in exile in Iran and fought on the side of the Iranians in the Iran-Iraq War.
Amiri helped command the Hashd al Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) — the largely Shiite, pro-Iranian paramilitary force that supported the Iraqi Army in the fight against ISIS.
While the PMU played a vital role in defeating ISIS, some groups under its umbrella were accused of committing sectarian abuses against Sunnis and Kurds, an allegation the PMU denied.
Last week, Iraq’s highest Shiite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, urged voters not to reelect “corrupt” lawmakers and warned that “foreign agendas” could undermine the country’s ability to carry out a free and fair vote.
In a televised statement delivered by his representative after Friday prayers, al-Sistani urged voters to learn from the past. “Avoid falling into the trap of those who are corrupt and those who have failed, whether they have been tried or not,” he said.
It was al-Sistani’s call for Iraqis to take up arms against ISIS in 2014 that led to the creation of the Hashd al Shaabi force, which reports directly to the Prime Minister’s office.
Security fears
Security remained a big issue as Iraqis headed to the polls.
A statement released Friday by the Prime Minister’s office urged voters to “choose the best for Iraq and for a brighter future” while also seeking to reassure them that they would be safe.
“We have ordered our heroic security forces to protect the electoral process, and to protect the voters and polling stations, and they are capable of protecting you,” it said.
One candidate — a college professor named Farouq Zarzour — was assassinated this week in a town near Mosul. He was running for parliament as part of the National Coalition led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
A spokesman for ISIS also urged attacks against polling stations and voters in an audio message released last month.
Abadi may have declared the defeat of ISIS last September but the extremist group remains a threat, with a continued presence in small pockets of the country and sleeper cells elsewhere.
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