Executive Summary
Despite the increased participation of women in Iraqi elections, online spaces remain highly hostile
environments for women candidates.1 Digital platforms have become significant in the negotiation
of political legitimacy, gender norms, and social expectations. Women candidates are frequently
subjected to coordinated harassment, sexualized disinformation, moral shaming, and narratives
questioning their competence or legitimacy.
The following report examines patterns of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV)
targeting women candidates during the 2025 Iraqi parliamentary elections. The analysis focuses on
how harmful narratives against women in politics emerge and evolve across different stages of the
electoral cycle, including the campaign period, voting day, and post-election discussions.
The findings in this report were derived using a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative
digital monitoring and quantitative narrative analysis of publicly available social media content.
Monitoring covered 160 social media pages across Arabic and Kurdish contexts between October
2025 and January 2026, including political accounts, media outlet accounts, accounts of electoral
candidates, satirical accounts, and accounts linked to tribal and religious actors.
The research team identified 137 Arabic language posts and 83 Kurdish language posts which
targeted women candidates. In addition, the team analysed approximately 33,000 user comments
(15,933 in Arabic and 17,452 in Kurdish) to understand how online audiences engage with electionrelated discussions about women candidates and how gender-based hostility appears within public
digital discourse.
The findings reveal that TFGBV against women in Iraqi politics functions as a continuous process that
intensifies throughout the electoral cycle. Women candidates were repeatedly targeted through
narratives cantered on morality, appearance, honour, accusations of corruption, and claims of quota
manipulation, while their political programs and qualifications received limited attention.
The analysis also reveals significant differences between the types of TFGBV in Arabic and Kurdish
contexts. While Arabic content revealed higher levels of harassment and sexualized insults, Kurdish
content demonstrated increased usage of discriminatory narratives, including accusations of treason
and dehumanizing discourse. Although violent speech appears in a relatively small percentage of
comments, when it does, it is severe and includes incitement to violence and/or sexual threats.
The report also finds that digital hostility is amplifying structural vulnerabilities within Iraq’s political
system. While the women’s quota increases numerical representation, party practices can at times
limit the political agency of women, making them more vulnerable to online attacks and
delegitimization narratives.
Addressing TFGBV is therefore essential to enhancing digital safety as well as to protecting
democratic participation and ensuring that women can engage in political life without fear of
harassment or intimidation.
1
London School of Economics and Political Science, (2024, March 5), 'From the House to the Fire’: The Gender
Quota and Women’s Substantive Representation in Iraq https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2024/03/05/from-thehouse-to-the-fire-the-gender-quota-and-womens-substantive-representation-in-iraq/
9