BAGHDAD: A man walking past electoral campaign posters in Baghdad on Wednesday — AFP BAGHDAD, May 09 (AFP): With campaign posters cluttering the streets of Iraq, the almost 7,000 candidates running for parliament in upcoming elections are resorting to increasingly wacky pitches to woo voters.
As they bid for one of the 329 seats up for grabs the would-be MPs seem to be outdoing each other with eye-catching slogans, ranging from the amusing to the downright bizarre.
"Vote for Anuar al-Waili, her cousin owns a tyre shop in Australia," reads one full-page newspaper advert published ahead of the May 12 nationwide poll.
Like other candidates who use their professions to highlight their qualifications for parliament, Ahmed al-Assadi's posters proudly display his title.
"Official spokesman", it reads-but for what, it does not say.
The reason is that Assadi represented the Hashed al-Shaabi, paramilitary units that fought alongside Iraq's regular forces against the Islamic State group.
Like a large number of his former comrades-in-arms who are running for election, Assadi has had to officially quit his military position to stand-meaning that he can't spell out the details of his job in full.
For others, vagueness seems to form an even more important part of their pitch to voters.
Aisha al-Massari, a candidate for the National Alliance of Vice President Ayad Allawi, proudly boasts that she has "accomplished 1,000 deeds".
Exactly what those deeds are remains a total mystery.
Another question mark for Iraqis is the absent face of Hanae Turki, number two on Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's Victory Alliance list.
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