The Electoral Cycle
Throughout this monitoring period, electoral campaigning was characterised by emotionally driven
narratives rather than substantive policy debate. Political messaging frequently cantered on religious
legitimacy, moral authority, protection of social and cultural values, resistance to perceived external
or foreign influence, and expressions of loyalty to sectarian, tribal, or political leadership. These
dynamics are particularly pronounced in the Iraqi context, where political credibility is more often
negotiated through identity, religious authority, and communal belonging than through detailed
legislative platforms or policy programs.
For women candidates, these campaigning dynamics produced distinct and gendered effects. Across
the monitored content, women candidates were consistently framed through moral and cultural
lenses. Their appearance, personal behaviour, family roles, and perceptions of their conformity to
social norms were foregrounded at the expense of their political qualifications, legislative agendas, or
professional experience which were largely absent from the public discourse. This pattern reflects
deeper structural dynamics in Iraq, where women’s participation in public and political life remains
contingent on demonstrating moral respectability and securing social approval, rendering their
political engagement conditional rather than recognised as an autonomous right.
In the digital sphere, campaigning tactics relied heavily on audiovisual material, including short video
clips, screenshots from live broadcasts, selectively edited content, and provocative or misleading titles
designed to maximize engagement. In several documented cases, content was decontextualized or
reframed to provoke moral judgment, ridicule, or suspicion. These practices proved particularly
effective in the Iraqi digital environment, where visual content carries considerable perceived
authority and circulates rapidly across interconnected networks of political, media, and community
pages that shape public discourse.
Boycott narratives
Polarized boycott discourse, compounded by competitive mobilization efforts, intensified social and
political pressure by framing electoral participation as a moral position rather than a civic choice,
publicly stigmatising those who stood as candidates, and lending implicit legitimacy to attacks against
candidates. Women candidates bore a disproportionate share, with their decision to stand framed
through gendered and moral lenses.
This boycott environment was further shaped by the public call of Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the
National Shiite Movement (formerly known as the Sadrist Movement) urging his supporters to fully
boycott the elections.7 The call was unprecedented in its potential consequences for Iraq’s political
landscape, given the scale and mobilization capacity of the Sadrist base. Al-Sadr’s position lent
considerable weight to narratives of disengagement and boycott, deepening an atmosphere of
political contestation around the elections.
Three days before the elections, the religious figure Sayyed Rashid Al Husseini released a series of
videos in which he strongly criticised several members of parliament, including a number of women
candidates, for opposing amendments to the Jaafari Personal Status Law.8 In the videos, he openly
encouraged voters not to support the targeted candidates, describing them as “cowards,” “unworthy
7
BBC Arabic. (2025, October 18). [ العراق يستعد النتخابات برلمانية وسط مقاطعة التيار الصدري وتحديات سياسيةWeb page].
BBC Arabic. https://perma.cc/L9YR-BQ6T
8
رشيد،الحسين.
(2025, November 8). Boycott statement [Facebook post]. Facebook.
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http://archive.today/PBpaj
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