Exiled poet Nabeel Yasin’s shares his diary of the Iraq election.
12 February: Today our campaign begins. Baghdad is a forest of coloured posters: all the usual faces use their millions of dollars of overseas support despite constitutional law forbidding any political candidate from accepting overseas donations. Volunteers paste ours up strategically. Many remind people that "The right of the voter is above the right of the MP!" and feature pictures of me or the other candidates. All of them feature the party number that appears on voting slips – 341. We hope this number makes history. We have several hundred posters and 140 big street signs. We cannot afford to waste any. The posters stamp our presence around the city. I hope it is enough. – from “Nabeel Yasin’s Diary of the Iraq Election,” The Guardian
12 February: Today our campaign begins. Baghdad is a forest of coloured posters: all the usual faces use their millions of dollars of overseas support despite constitutional law forbidding any political candidate from accepting overseas donations. Volunteers paste ours up strategically. Many remind people that "The right of the voter is above the right of the MP!" and feature pictures of me or the other candidates. All of them feature the party number that appears on voting slips – 341. We hope this number makes history. We have several hundred posters and 140 big street signs. We cannot afford to waste any. The posters stamp our presence around the city. I hope it is enough. – from “Nabeel Yasin’s Diary of the Iraq Election,” The Guardian