Plastered In Posters, Iraq`s Basra Waits For Polls

The elections are a test of the country`s fledgling democracy almost six years after the U.S.-led invasion.

The machines have finally gone quiet at Basra's biggest printing press after a frantic month of churning out the election posters now plastered on almost every inch of Iraq's second biggest city.

A web of banners is strung between every lamp post in Basra, while electoral posters cover shops, cars and even water towers ahead of Saturday's election in which voters will elect a powerful provincial council in Basra and 13 other provinces.

The elections, the first since the Iraqi government emerged from the shadow of U.S. power, are a test of the country's fledgling democracy almost six years after the U.S.-led invasion unleashed catastrophic bloodshed.

A sharp drop in violence has made for vibrant campaigns in comparison with the last polls, with more than 14,000 candidates competing for 440 provincial council seats across the country.

Under former leader Saddam Hussein, printing presses needed government permission for anything they put out, said Abdul Mahdi al-Aamiri, manager of Basra's Alghadeer printing company.

"The huge difference democracy has made to our business - you can't even compare to how we were before," he said.

Elections under Saddam were referendums on his rule, which he won with a landslide. Some in Basra recall going to vote and being handed several ballot papers endorsing him.

Largely Shi'ite Basra is a prize in Iraq's oil-rich south. Flyer space there is at such a premium that some candidates have stuck posters on giant balloons tethered to the ground.

Election rules mean campaigning is supposed stop 48 hours before the polls, finally allowing overworked printers a rest -- although many candidates appear to be ignoring that regulation.

"Now we're relaxed. The election has been great for us printers, tailors and metal workers," Aamiri said, referring to makers of cloth banners and metal poster frames.

Profits have doubled in the last month, during which employees worked five hours overtime each day. Monthly paper consumption more than doubled to 24 tonnes.

No one party has an absolute grip on largely Shi'ite Basra, and widespread voter dissatisfaction with the incumbent provincial council means everything is up for grabs.

Some 1,280 candidates are competing for just 35 council seats, prompting a storm of leaflets from candidates hoping to make their faces known, a boon for Aamiri's company.

Such openness by candidates would have been unthinkable for many during previous polls in 2005, when insurgent and sectarian violence raged across much of Iraq, and gangs and militias vied to control Basra and its oil wealth.

Basra, where British troops have been stationed since 2003, is now relatively calm after a crackdown last year, but is still dilapidated and unable to provide decent services to its people.

Unfortunately, the ferocity of the election race means the rubbish that is strewn in Basra streets is likely to get worse before its gets better.

"This is the worst part of the elections. All of this paper will just go into the bin. The rubbish here is already a catastrophe," said print worker Loay Jawad.