Iraqis vote for the first time since since the defeat of ISIS

An Iraqi woman shows she has voted
(Image credit: Safin Hamed/Getty Images)

Iraqi voters head to the polls Saturday for the first time since the country declared victory over the Islamic State. Reports from Baghdad suggest low turnout, and of those who did try to vote, some were turned away because they have not received their new, biometric voting ID cards in time for the election.

Iraqi leaders attempted to bolster turnout by removing a security curfew and urging participation to keep corrupt or unpopular politicians out of office. "The lack of participation will give the opportunity for others to reach parliament and they will be very far from the aspirations of the people," warned Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalai, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.