Slow But Steady Return To The Right Track, Gulf News

Iraq's local elections have shown that the country is relatively on the right track to stability. It was also as democratic and transparent as it gets considering that the wounds of successive wars have yet to heal. Early results show that voters are increasingly choosing secular candidates, shunning for the first time since the 2003 US invasion, candidates of the religious parties.

Iraq's local elections have shown that the country is relatively on the right track to stability. It was also as democratic and transparent as it gets considering that the wounds of successive wars have yet to heal. Early results show that voters are increasingly choosing secular candidates, shunning for the first time since the 2003 US invasion, candidates of the religious parties.

According to news reports, voters are quoted as saying they have had enough religious rhetoric which has done nothing to improve basic services. The religious parties are in fact being blamed for the 2006 sectarian strife which almost plunged the country into civil war.

Many would argue that Iraq is still an occupied country. Therefore, Saturday's polls cannot be described as a democratic process. But the scene on the ground during the voting process clearly showed that Iraqi forces were in charge. The Americans were hardly seen around polling stations. The situation was calm, except for a few incidents which can happen during any election in a Third World country.

The experience prompted an obviously ecstatic US President Barack Obama to say that he is planning to pull out the greater part of American troops by the end of this year. This move will certainly make many Iraqis happy, especially Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki who has been pushing for a US withdrawal timetable.

Al Maliki might in fact be the biggest winner in Saturday's elections. His allies are leading the results, placing him in a stronger position to implement his plans, particularly national reconciliation and constitutional reforms, aimed at strengthening the central government - a prerequisite to maintain a unified Iraq.

The elections have given the clearest picture so far of an Iraq that is returning slowly, albeit steadily, to normalcy. And this needs cooperation from neighbouring countries.