No clear front-runner has emerged after weeks of official campaigning as Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi faces stiff competition Saturday from political parties with closer ties to Iran.
Polls have opened across Iraq in the first national election since the declaration of victory over the Islamic State group.
No clear front-runner has emerged after weeks of official campaigning as Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi faces stiff competition Saturday from political parties with closer ties to Iran.
The vote — the fourth since the 2003 US-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein — will be conducted electronically for the first time to reduce fraud. Polling centers have been set up for many of the country’s 2 million people who remain displaced by the war against IS.
Al-Abadi took office just weeks after IS fighters overran nearly a third of Iraq’s territory in the summer of 2014 and has since overseen the grueling military defeat of the group.
