New elections won’t fix what increasingly looks like a systemic problem.
By Mina Al-Oraibi, a columnist at Foreign Policy and the editor in chief of the National.
Foreignpolicy.com
Supporters of Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr flash the victory sign during protests inside the parliament building in Baghdad on July 30. AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
The scenes emerging from Baghdad over the past week, as protesters dismantled concrete slabs and stormed an Iraqi parliament building, put the country’s political dysfunction in sharp relief. The loud but peaceful protesters shouted chants denouncing the corruption that has kept one of the world’s largest oil producers on the list of the world’s most corrupt nations, suffering from electricity blackouts, mass unemployment, and a lack of basic services. They highlighted the fact that the empty parliament building they stormed had 24-hour electricity, with air conditioning running while ordinary Iraqis suffered from the sweltering heat.
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