Iraq Election: Weak Government, Strong Society by Amir Taheri  •  May 11, 2018 at 6:30 pm         The first reason why this [the election] is still a big deal is that the overwhelming majority of Iraqis still seem committed to pluralist elections as the sole means of choosing their government. And it is a major step towards a more sophisticated form of democratic politics in which where-you-want-to-go is more important than where-you-come-from. An overwhelming majority of Iraqis still seem committed to pluralist elections as the sole means of choosing their government. (Photo: U.S. Marine Corps/ Lance Cpl. Shane S. Keller/Wikimedia Commons.) Iraqis are scheduled to go the polls tomorrow to elect a new parliament which would, in turn, choose a new government. You might say: So what? What's the big deal? The first reason why this is still a big deal is that the overwhelming majority of Iraqis still seem committed to pluralist elections as the sole means of choosing their government. In 2003, when talk of holding elections started in newly liberated Iraq, few people believed the Iraqis would understand the electoral process let alone develop a taste for it. One lost count of American and European "experts" who mocked the very idea of free elections in Iraq where, they opined, the "Arab mindset" was firmly entrenched against winning power at the ballot box. Democrat Senator Joe Biden, the future US Vice President under Barack Obama, laughed the whole thing off. "One man, one vote, once!" he quipped. His recipe for Iraq was the division of the country into three mini-states, not democratic elections. Continue Reading Article C