After the elections this Sunday, Iraqis will have been asked to vote for their future half a dozen times, and the expected results will invariably be the same as they always have been — a further entrenchment of a corrupt political class backed by a coterie of shadowy clergymen, and enforced by the violence of Shia Islamist militias.
This has led to not only activists vowing to boycott the elections, but also many political parties have announced they will not contest a vote they deem to be rigged.