By Staff, Agencies

Iraqis headed on Monday to the polls to elect provincial councils for the first time in 10 years, with thousands vying for seats in the powerful assemblies.

Ballots will be cast in 15 of Iraq’s 18 provinces on Monday. The elections are a prelude to a parliamentary vote in 2025.

Overall, 285 candidates will be elected to the councils, whose duties include appointing regional governors and allocating health, transport and education budgets. Iraq’s Kurdistan region, which includes three provinces, will decide their provincial councils next year.

Monday’s vote is seen as a key test for the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who rose to power a year ago.

Since taking office, al-Sudani has struggled to develop public services and infrastructure ravaged by decades of conflict. He is hoping for a high turnout, which would give his administration a boost.

Voting started at 7am [04:00 GMT] on Monday under tight security and was set to continue until 6pm [15:00 GMT].

Some 17 million of Iraq’s 43 million people are eligible to vote, with 6,000 candidates in the race.

Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr is boycotting the election.

Manaf Almusawi, a member of his Sadrist movement, announced that the boycott is intended to “voice rejection of the government’s policies” and “deprive the government of legitimacy”.

Iraq’s provincial councils were established after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein.

The councils were initially abolished in late 2019 as a concession to massive antigovernment protests, but al-Sudani’s government later re-established them.