Iraqi candidates exchange government jobs for votes
Despite the Iraqi people’s aspirations for a democratic state, many politicians hand out government jobs during election season to ensure votes.
It's well understood that elections usually entail unusual political actions, aggressive behavior, mutual attempts to discredit others and dissemination and talk about scandals, as well as woo voters through promises and commitments that, for the most part, go unfulfilled.
But it's not acknowledged that elections are transformed into a market for government jobs, and that candidates from the various factions effectively control thousands of government jobs that are used to garner electoral votes.
No doubt, the candidates’ margin for lying is great, as is their ability to provide government jobs for those who vote for them or support their electoral campaigns. The reality on the ground suggests that some influential politicians do allocate dozens of job opportunities to clan elders or clerics in different regions, which are subsequently distributed among their clansmen or followers in return for votes in favor of the donor party.
As such, many young unemployed view election season as an opportunity to snatch a government job. They await the chance to pay a visit to candidates who open their doors and offices to constituents before elections, only to be turned away thereafter.
