Iraq's Provincial Elections Are Now Over -- Now What?

Sheiks aligned with Saleh al-Mutlaq’s election slate, which won the highest percentage of votes in Anbar Province, discussed strategy on Saturday in Ramadi, Iraq. Michael Kamber for The New York Times

After Iraqi Elections, Next Big Test Is Acceptance
-- New York Times

RAMADI, Iraq — The postelection curfew has been lifted, the threats of violence muted after the intervention of envoys from the Iraqi Army, the central government and the United States Marines. A cacophonous bustle has returned to the filthy, shattered streets of this provincial capital, once a base of the Sunni insurgency.

And still Faris Taha, one of the election’s victors, according to preliminary results, is too fearful to return to the region he will soon represent.

“I cannot go back,” he said, having retreated from his hometown east of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, to a hotel in Baghdad’s Green Zone. “I am afraid.”

Iraq’s provincial elections on Jan. 31 passed with strikingly little mayhem, raising hopes that democracy might take hold. But in Anbar, as in other volatile provinces, the results that were supposed to augur peace have instead fueled tensions, raising the specter of violence among those vying for political power.

The transition from insurgency to politics to governance — a key to stabilizing the country after six years of war — has proved to be anything but steady and sure. What Anbar has yet to experience is the foundation of any democracy: a peaceful transfer of power. Seating the new provincial governments, Iraqi and American officials fear, could be even more fraught with danger than the elections themselves.

Read more ....

My Comment: Iraq Democracy is now starting its first baby steps. While violence will be a part of the political culture in Iraq for the next few generations, the idea that everything will revert to the old days with a strong man like Saddam Hussein at the helm are over.

If there is a threat to democratic institutions, it will come from the government in not being able to accommodate the needs of its citizens. But their baseline is so low now that it will be hard to disappoint.

As long as a free press is permitted, coupled with the rule of law and respect for other religious and ethnic groups, Iraq will ultimately find its way.