Leaflets over Mosul Drum Up Support for Iraq Elections

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s Election Commission has resorted to dropping leaflets over the northern city of Mosul calling on voters to register for the legislative elections in April, in a province where anti-government anger is high over uncontrolled violence and a deadly crackdown on protesters earlier this year.

“Because we do not see any passion in people to check their names on the voter list, we have resorted to asking the army to drop encouraging leaflets to people,” said Jwan al-Nuaimi, the commission spokeswoman.

She told Mada Press that thousands of leaflets had been dropped over Mosul with the help of army helicopters.

“The leaflets contain guidance on how to visit the stations and register or check their names,” she said, adding that the commission has set up 140 registration stations across Nineveh province, where Mosul is the capital.

Mosul is Iraq’s third-largest city and lies on the northwestern border with Syria. In the past 10 years it has been one of the most violent cities in Iraq, with insurgent groups virtually running the province during the country’s sectarian war.

City officials say that, unlike the provincial capital, people in the outskirts of the city and the rural areas are visiting the registration stations in big numbers and seem more responsive to the call.

In late October, Nineveh governor Asil al-Nujaifi said that voter registration in Mosul city was only 4 percent, while in the rest of the province it was 20 percent.

Political parties across Iraq are bracing themselves for parliamentary elections due on April 30 next year.

The reasons for Mosul’s lack of zeal for the elections may lie in local distrust of Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Maliki started off on the wrong foot with the Sunni-majority province, and relations between his government and Mosul worsened after his troops cracked down on protesters earlier this year, killing and imprisoning many.