Iraq holds first nationwide election since IS defeat

BAGHDAD, May 12 (Agencies): Iraq headed to the polls Saturday for its first parliamentary election since declaring victory over the Islamic State (IS) group, in hope of shoring up a fragile peace and rebuilding.

Iraqis voted in the first election since defeating IS, but few people expect its new leaders to stabilise a country beset by conflicts, economic hardship and corruption since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Voters across the war-scarred nation cast their ballots under tight security, as the jihadists still pose a major security threat despite a sharp fall in violence. The poll comes with tensions surging between key powers Iran and the United States after Washington pulled out of a key 2015 nuclear deal, sparking fears of a destabilising power struggle in Iraq.

Roughly 24.5 million voters face a fragmented political landscape five months after IS were ousted, with the dominant Shiites split, the Kurds in disarray and Sunnis sidelined.

Over 15 blood-sodden years since the US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein, disillusionment is widespread and politics is dominated by old faces from an elite seen as mired in corruption and sectarianism.

At a polling station in the Baghdad district of Karrada, 74-year-old Sami Wadi appealed for change "to save the country". "I call on all Iraqis to participate in the elections to prevent those who have controlled the nation since 2003 from staying in power," the retiree told AFP.

In the former IS bastion, second city Mosul-still partly in ruins from the months-long fight to oust the group-residents hoped for an uptick in their fortunes as they struggle to put their lives back together.

"I am voting for security and the economy to stabilise and for a better future," said labourer Ali Fahmi, 26.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi-who took office as IS rampaged across Iraq in 2014 -- is angling for a new term, claiming credit for defeating the jihadists and seeing off a Kurdish push for independence.

But competition from within his Shiite community, the majority group dominating Iraqi politics, will likely splinter the vote and spell lengthy horse-trading to form any government.