Iraq's Provincial Elections Under Way

Saturday, Iraq holds the long-delayed provincial elections which are, in many ways, a test of the country's relatively new-found stability. Most importantly, the skewed provincial councils produced by the 2005 elections, which were boycotted by most Sunni parties, key tribal groups and the urban supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, will be replaced by more representative bodies.

I'll comment at greater length once the results are known, but for background reading on the elections in the meantime, the International Crisis Group has a detailed survey (executive summary here) (full-length report in .pdf here). See also the page on the elections from the Education for Peace in Iraq Center.

Note that the provincial elections are occurring in only 14 of the 18 provinces: the Kurdish region and Ta'mim Province (Kirkuk) aren't involved.