One female candidate, Amal al-Kashif, who’s running as part of the Muwatin, or Citizen, coalition that’s affiliated with Iraq’s Islamic Supreme Council, had only two lines on her posters. One where she said she supported breast feeding. And another where she promised religious tours to the central Iraqi city of Samarra, free of charge.
Another candidate, Afaf al-Tamimi, simply introduced herself. Her posters are adorned with a series of bullet points listing her educational, and then political, achievements. There’s nothing about what the candidates or their parties might do for their constituents.
Meanwhile lawyer Muwafaq Taha, who is running for the mostly Sunni Muslim Arabiya party, said that he is only competing in the elections because God told him to. “I swear by almighty God that I nominated myself to run for Parliament because I was told to do so by a messenger from God,” his poster boasts.
This particular poster has been a favourite on websites like Facebook; many of those who comment on it say the candidates are naive to think they can fool the voters by using religious slogans and saying they’ve been specially chosen by God.
Other candidates are relying on their family connections rather than their divine ones. One man used his brother’s name to introduce himself because his brother was better known than he was. His posters say: “Dr Sabbah Shakir, the brother of Captain Hakim Shakir”.
And some of the more conservative female candidates haven’t even put their own pictures on their own posters. Instead their promotional material features pictures of their husbands or brothers. The slogans often say things like elect the sister of so-and-so or the wife of such-and-such.
Not all of the campaign slogans have caused laughter. Some have come in for serious criticism. Iraq’s Minister of Justice, Hasan al-Shammari, is running in the southern Iraqi province of Dhi Qar. His campaign slogan: “Dhi Qar votes for revenge”.
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