Vote-buying casts shadow over Iraq’s 2025 elections
Shafaq News – Baghdad
As Iraq moves toward its parliamentary elections on November 11, 2025, the debate over electoral integrity has re-emerged, driven by mounting evidence of vote buying and the recent escalation of fines against candidates.
Despite official assurances from the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) of full readiness for the polls, observers warn that money politics may once again blur the line between legitimate campaigning and corruption.
IHEC has intensified its penalties on candidates and parties violating campaign rules, announcing fines ranging between two and ten million dinars ($1,500-7,600) for individuals, and up to fifty million dinars for electoral alliances. According to the commission’s media head, Imad Jameel, these fines are deducted directly from deposits made by participants — a system designed to simplify enforcement and deter violations.
Yet the deterrent effect remains uncertain. In recent weeks, the commission issued fines against several prominent political figures, including sitting and former prime ministers, for breaching campaign conduct regulations. The move was widely seen as a signal of impartiality, but some question whether financial sanctions alone can disrupt entrenched networks of patronage and vote trading.
Read more: Money, power, and ballots: Iraq's struggle against electoral fraud
Vote buying in Iraq takes multiple forms, ranging from cash offers to more sophisticated exchanges involving voter cards. In some provinces, local monitors report that biometric cards — the backbone of Iraq’s voting system — have become tradable commodities on informal markets. Prices reportedly reach up to one hundred dollars per card, with buyers promising payment after election day once votes are verified.
Security authorities have already detained dozens accused of purchasing or collecting voter cards, and more than 1,800 cards were seized in coordinated operations across several provinces in early October.
Election monitors say the phenomenon threatens not only legal integrity but also the social meaning of the vote itself. “Buying and selling votes is a dual crime,” says Wael Mundher, a member of the board of the Ein Network for Election Monitoring and Democracy. “The buyer and the seller both bear legal responsibility. It’s not simply unethical; it’s a criminal act that contradicts the very principle of free choice.”
Mundher explains to Shafaq News that the organization has deployed field observers across all provinces to track campaign behavior and voter engagement, with teams submitting verified reports to the network’s central analysis unit. These observations, he says, will form part of a detailed report to be released after the campaign period, documenting patterns of illegal inducement and pressure tactics.
Civil society activist, Waad al-Jabir, warns that the electoral environment “requires constant vigilance, particularly amid fears of vote buying and card manipulation.”
Speaking to our agency, he stresses that public awareness remains the strongest safeguard: “Without informed voters and transparent monitoring, any regulation becomes fragile.”
Read more: Iraq’s 2025 Parliamentary Elections — What You Need to Know
While Iraqi law criminalizes both sides of vote trading — imposing up to six months’ imprisonment and fines reaching five million dinars — enforcement remains inconsistent across regions. In rural areas and communities affected by displacement or poverty, candidates often exploit economic hardship to build electoral leverage.
One observer, in condition of anonymity, notes that these practices are especially visible in provinces like Al-Anbar, Nineveh, and Babil, where political loyalty has historically shifted with material incentives.
At the same time, early campaigning and misuse of public offices continue to challenge the notion of equality among contenders. In Baghdad and southern provinces, some candidates have been accused of using government premises or public resources to amplify their visibility ahead of the official campaign launch on October 3. The IHEC has acknowledged these breaches but insists that penalties are being applied “without exception.”
Despite legal frameworks and active monitoring, the tension between law and political custom remains unresolved. The observer argues that fines, though significant on paper, often fail to match the scale of money circulating informally in Iraq’s elections. “For wealthier candidates or established alliances, financial penalties may represent little more than the cost of doing business.”
More troubling, says the observer, is the perception among voters that nothing substantial changes from one election to another. The persistence of vote buying, coupled with uneven enforcement, has deepened cynicism and threatened to suppress turnout in key provinces. “When citizens believe their votes are for sale…It is not only the candidates who lose credibility — it’s the entire democratic process.”
Read more: Financial muscle: How money shapes Iraq's upcoming elections
With over 21 million registered voters and 18 provinces preparing for the November polls, the coming weeks will test not only the resilience of the IHEC’s oversight mechanisms but also the moral endurance of its electorate.
Written and edited by Shafaq News Agency.
