Iraqis to vote in first elections after Daesh war

Whoever wins today will face the challenge of rebuilding Iraq after four years of war with Daesh.

For the first time since driving out Daesh, Iraqis go to the polls on Saturday in an election that will shape attempts to heal the country's deep divisions and could shift the regional balance of power.
Iraq's three main ethnic and religious groups, the majority Shia Arabs and the minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds, have been at loggerheads for decades and the sectarian rifts are as apparent as ever 15 years after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The election of a new prime minister and parliament also takes place the same week US President Donald Trump announced he was pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, raising tensions between Iraq's two main allies: Tehran and Washington.
Whoever wins the May 12 election will face the challenge of rebuilding Iraq after four years of war with Daesh, jump-starting a flagging economy, balancing the interests of powerful foreign patrons and maintaining the country's fragile unity in the face of sectarian and separatist tensions.
"We want security. We have killings, theft, kidnappings. We never had this before. In the past 15 years the people have been destroyed," said 29-year-old Khalid Radi, a labourer in Baghdad.
Incumbent Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi is considered by analysts to be marginally ahead but victory is far from certain.
Even though he announced Daesh's defeat during his first four-year term, diffused sectarian tensions enflamed by his predecessor, and maintained Iraq's unity in the face of a Kurdish independence bid, he faces a tough battle
Abadi has faced criticism about persistent government corruption, tough economic conditions and the austerity measures his cabinet introduced after the slide in global oil prices and to help pay for the fight against Daesh.
He also cannot rely solely on votes from his community as the Shia voter base is unusually split this year. Instead, he is looking to draw upon support from other groups.
His two main challengers are his predecessor Nuri Al Maliki and Iranian-backed Shia militia commander Hadi Al Amiri.
Both have a more passionate voter base than Abadi, who is mostly appealing to more pragmatic voters who see him as having better relations with the outside world and a cross-sectarian appeal needed to avoid further bloodshed and attract investment.
Like Abadi, Amiri is running on a platform highlighting the victory against Daesh, though the militia leader's narrative is more compelling as he was a frontline commander and is viewed as war hero.
Maliki, who was sidelined after eight years in office in 2014 after losing a third of the country to Daesh, is looking to make a political comeback.
In contrast to the cross-sectarian message of Abadi, Maliki is again posing as Iraq's Shia champion and is proposing to do away with the country's unofficial power-sharing model in which all the main parties have cabinet representatives.
The election is also taking place in an atmosphere of division and disillusionment within Iraq's three main groups.
The Shia vote is split as many are unhappy with their leaders after 15 years in power that have only yielded violence and unemployment and left the country's infrastructure crumbling.