The Phenomenon of Abstention from Voting in Some Arab Countries in 2018 (Iraq as a Case Study)

The phenomenon of abstention from voting in elections is inherent in the political systems according to democracy and freedom that they adopt. The electoral systems which are used affect the extent and size of the phenomenon of "abstaining from voting" in which the motives and causes are varied including economic, social, cultural, and political aspects. The role of the state it can play in reducing or increasing this phenomenon cannot be ignored, the relation of the phenomenon to democracy, and the extent to which legitimacy is given to the ruling regime. 2018 is the year of the Arab elections, which witnessed the largest number of municipal, parliamentary and presidential elections, in a "third" of the Arab countries. Despite the large number, but the level of public participation continued to decline gradually, while there has not improved in the Arab citizen life, politically, economically, or socially, since the outbreak of the Arab revolutions in 2011. Iraq is a part of this phenomenon, as there was a great abstention from participating in the Iraqi parliamentary elections in 2018, in light of the desire of the ruling political parties to continue, not to build the power of stable state institutions, rather, to build the power of parties.