2025-10-10T07:36:04+00:00
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Shafaq News – Baghdad
As Iraq moves toward its parliamentary
elections on November 11, 2025, the debate over electoral integrity has
re-emerged, driven by mounting evidence of vote buying and the recent
escalation of fines against candidates.
Despite official assurances from the
Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) of full readiness for the polls,
observers warn that money politics may once again blur the line between
legitimate campaigning and corruption.
IHEC has intensified its penalties on
candidates and parties violating campaign rules, announcing fines ranging
between two and ten million dinars ($1,500-7,600) for individuals, and up to
fifty million dinars for electoral alliances. According to the commission’s
media head, Imad Jameel, these fines are deducted directly from deposits made
by participants — a system designed to simplify enforcement and deter
violations.
Yet the deterrent effect remains uncertain.
In recent weeks, the commission issued fines against several prominent
political figures, including sitting and former prime ministers, for breaching
campaign conduct regulations. The move was widely seen as a signal of
impartiality, but some question whether financial sanctions alone can disrupt
entrenched networks of patronage and vote trading.
Read more:Money, power, and ballots: Iraq’s struggle against electoral fraud
Vote buying in Iraq takes multiple forms,
ranging from cash offers to more sophisticated exchanges involving voter cards.
In some provinces, local monitors report that biometric cards — the backbone of
Iraq’s voting system — have become tradable commodities on informal markets.
Prices reportedly reach up to one hundred dollars per card, with buyers
promising payment after election day once votes are verified.
Security authorities have already detained
dozens accused of purchasing or collecting voter cards, and more than 1,800
cards were seized in coordinated operations across several provinces in early
October.
Election monitors say the phenomenon
threatens not only legal integrity but also the social meaning of the vote
itself. “Buying and selling votes is a dual crime,” says Wael Mundher, a member
of the board of the Ein Network for Election Monitoring and Democracy. “The
buyer and the seller both bear legal responsibility. It’s not simply unethical;
it’s a criminal act that contradicts the very principle of free choice.”
Mundher explains to Shafaq News that the
organization has deployed field observers across all provinces to track
campaign behavior and voter engagement, with teams submitting verified reports
to the network’s central analysis unit. These observations, he says, will form
part of a detailed report to be released after the campaign period, documenting
patterns of illegal inducement and pressure tactics.
Civil society activist, Waad al-Jabir, warns
that the electoral environment “requires constant vigilance, particularly amid
fears of vote buying and card manipulation.”
Speaking to our agency, he stresses that
public awareness remains the strongest safeguard: “Without informed voters and
transparent monitoring, any regulation becomes fragile.”
Read more:Iraq’s 2025 Parliamentary Elections — What You Need to Know
While Iraqi law criminalizes both sides of
vote trading — imposing up to six months’ imprisonment and fines reaching five
million dinars — enforcement remains inconsistent across regions. In rural
areas and communities affected by displacement or poverty, candidates often
exploit economic hardship to build electoral leverage.
One observer, in condition of anonymity,
notes that these practices are especially visible in provinces like Al-Anbar,
Nineveh, and Babil, where political loyalty has historically shifted with
material incentives.
At the same time, early campaigning and
misuse of public offices continue to challenge the notion of equality among
contenders. In Baghdad and southern provinces, some candidates have been
accused of using government premises or public resources to amplify their
visibility ahead of the official campaign launch on October 3. The IHEC has
acknowledged these breaches but insists that penalties are being applied
“without exception.”
Despite legal frameworks and active
monitoring, the tension between law and political custom remains unresolved.
The observer argues that fines, though significant on paper, often fail to
match the scale of money circulating informally in Iraq’s elections. “For
wealthier candidates or established alliances, financial penalties may
represent little more than the cost of doing business.”
More troubling, says the observer, is the
perception among voters that nothing substantial changes from one election to
another. The persistence of vote buying, coupled with uneven enforcement, has
deepened cynicism and threatened to suppress turnout in key provinces. “When
citizens believe their votes are for sale…It is not only the candidates who
lose credibility — it’s the entire democratic process.”
Read more:Financial muscle: How money shapes Iraq’s upcoming elections
With over 21 million registered voters and 18
provinces preparing for the November polls, the coming weeks will test not only
the resilience of the IHEC’s oversight mechanisms but also the moral endurance
of its electorate.
Written and edited by Shafaq News Agency.
