By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq is weeks away from parliamentary elections that will set the country’s course during one of the Middle East’s most delicate moments in years.

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While the ceasefire in Gaza may have tamped down regional tensions, fears remain of another round of conflict between Israel and Iraq’s neighbor, Iran. Iraq managed to stay on the sidelines during the brief Israel-Iran war in June.

Meanwhile, Baghdad faces increasing pressure from Washington over the presence of Iran-linked armed groups in Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani came to power in 2022 with the backing of a group of pro-Iran parties but has since sought to balance Iraq’s relations with Tehran and Washington.

The Nov. 11 vote will determine whether he gets a second term — rare for Iraqi premiers in the past.

Who’s missing from the elections

A total of 7,768 candidates — 2,248 women and 5,520 men — are competing for 329 parliament seats.

The strongest political factions running include Shiite blocs led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, cleric Ammar al-Hakim, and several linked to armed groups; competing Sunni factions led by former parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi and current speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadan i; and the two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

The contest is just as notable for who is absent.

The popular Sadrist Movement, led by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, is boycotting. Al-Sadr’s bloc won the largest number of seats in the 2021 elections but later withdrew after failed negotiations over forming a government, and it continues to stay out of elections.

In the suburb known as Sadr City on Baghdad’s outskirts, a banner posted on one street read, “We are all boycotting upon orders from leader al-Sadr. No to America, no to Israel, no to corruption.”

The Victory Coalition, a smaller group led by former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, also announced a boycott, alleging corruption in the process.

Meanwhile, some reformist groups emerging from mass anti-government protests that began in October 2019 are participating but have been bogged down by internal divisions and lack of funding and political support.

Vote-buying and political violence

There have been widespread allegations of corruption and vote-buying. Political analyst Bassem al-Qazwini described these elections as “the most exploited since 2003 in terms of political money and state resources.”

A campaign official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was talking about alleged illegal conduct, asserted that almost all candidates, including major blocs, are distributing money and buying voter cards, with the price of a card going as high as 300,000 Iraqi dinars (around $200).

The Independent High Electoral Commission asserted its commitment to conducting a fair and transparent process, saying in a statement to The Associated Press that “strict measures have been taken to monitor campaign spending and curb vote-buying.”

It added that any candidate found guilty of violating laws or buying votes will be “immediately disqualified.”

Campaigning has been marred by political violence.

On Oct. 15, Baghdad Provincial Council member Safaa al-Mashhadani, a Sunni candidate in the al-Tarmiya district north of the capital, was killed by a car bomb. Two people were arrested on suspicion of the killing, the First Karkh Investigative Court said Thursday. It did not name the suspects but said the crime was believed to be “related to electoral competition.”

Aisha Ghazal Al-Masari, a member of parliament from the Sovereignty Alliance to which al-Mashhadani belonged, described the killing as “a cowardly crime reminiscent of the dark days of assassinations,” referring to the years of security vacuum after Iraq’s former autocratic leader, Saddam Hussein, was ousted in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The role of militias

Political parties linked to Iran-backed militias are leveraging their significant military and financial influence.

They include the Kataib Hezbollah militia, with its Harakat Huqouq (Rights Movement) bloc, and the Sadiqoun Bloc led by the leader of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia, Qais al-Khazali.

The Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of militias that formed to fight the Islamic State group, was formally placed under the control of the Iraqi military in 2016 but in practice still operates with significant autonomy.

Al-Sudani told journalists recently that armed factions that have transformed into political entities have the constitutional right to participate in elections.

“We cannot prevent any group from engaging in politics if they renounce arms. This is a step in the right direction,” he said.

However, several militias with affiliated political parties participating in the elections are still active and armed.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with al-Sudani on Monday and “highlighted the urgency in disarming Iran-backed militias that undermine Iraq’s sovereignty, threaten the lives and businesses of Americans and Iraqis, and pilfer Iraqi resources for Iran.”

Al-Sudani seeks another term

Al-Sudani has positioned himself as a pragmatist focused on improving public services. Polling shows that Iraqis are relatively positive about the country’s situation.

Al-Mustakella Research Group, affiliated with Gallup International Association, found that over the past two years, for the first time since 2004, more than half of Iraqis polled believed the country is heading in the right direction.

In the latest poll, in early 2025, 55% of Iraqis surveyed said they had confidence in the central government.

However, only one Iraqi prime minister, Maliki, has served more than one term since 2003.

Ihsan al-Shammari, professor of strategic and international studies at Baghdad University, said that the premiership “does not depend solely on election results but on political bloc agreements and regional and international understandings” to form a government.

He added that disagreements over control of state institutions that have arisen between al-Sudani and some leaders in the Shiite Coordination Framework bloc that brought him to power “may hinder his chances of a second term.”

Some Iraqis said they don’t have high hopes for the country, no matter what the election outcome.

Baghdad resident Saif Ali said he does not plan to vote, pointing to lagging public services.

“What happened with regards to electricity from 2003 until now? Nothing,” he said, referring to regular power cuts. ”What happened with water? Drought has reached Baghdad. These are the basic services, and they are not available, so what is the point of elections?”

By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The last time U.S. President Donald Trump visited South Korea in 2019, he made a surprise trip to the border with North Korea for an impromptu meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to revive faltering nuclear talks.

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Now, as Trump is set to make his first trip to Asia since his return to office, speculation is rife that he may seek to meet Kim again during his stop in South Korea. If realized, it would mark the two’s first summit since their last meeting at the Korean border village of Panmunjom in June 2019, and fourth overall.

Many experts say prospects for another impromptu meeting aren’t bright this time but predict Trump and Kim could eventually sit down for talks again in coming months. Others dispute that, saying a quick resumption of diplomacy isn’t still likely given how much has changed since 2019 — both the size of North Korea’s nuclear program and its foreign policy leverage.

Talks of fresh diplomacy

Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to restore diplomacy with Kim as he boasted of his relationship with the North Korean leader and called him “a smart guy.” Ending his silence on Trump’s outreach, Kim last month said he held “good personal memories” of Trump and suggested he could return to talks if the U.S. drops “its delusional obsession with denuclearization” of North Korea.

Both Washington and Pyongyang haven’t hinted at any high-profile meeting ahead of the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in South Korea. But South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told lawmakers in mid-October that it was possible for Trump and Kim to meet at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone again when the U.S. president comes to South Korea after visiting Malaysia and Japan.

“We should see prospects for their meeting have increased,” said Ban Kil Joo, assistant professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in Seoul. He cited the recent suspension of civilian tours to the southern side of Panmunjom and Kim’s comments about a possible return to talks.

If the meeting doesn’t occur, Ban said Kim will likely determine whether to resume diplomacy with Trump when he holds a major ruling party conference expected in January.

No notable logistical preparations that imply an impending Kim-Trump meeting have been reported, but observers note that the 2019 get-together was arranged only a day after Trump issued an unorthodox meeting invitation by tweet.

Kim’s greater leverage

Since his earlier diplomacy with Trump fell apart due to disputes over U.S.-led sanctions on North Korea, Kim has accelerated the expansion of an arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles designed to strike the U.S. and its allies. He has also strengthened his diplomatic footprint by aligning with Russia over its war in Ukraine and tightening relations with China.

Subsequently, Kim’s sense of urgency for talks with the United States could be much weaker now than it was six years ago, though some experts argue Kim would need to brace for the end of the Russia-Ukraine war.

“Considering the current situation, it seems difficult to imagine Kim Jong Un coming over for talks,” said Kim Tae-hyung, a professor at Seoul’s Soongsil University.

With an enlarged nuclear arsenal, stronger diplomatic backing from Russia and China and the weakening enforcement of sanctions, Kim has greater leverage and clearly wants the U.S. to acknowledge North Korea as a nuclear power, a status needed to call for the lifting of U.N. sanctions. But that would run counter to the U.S. and its allies’ long-held position that sanctions would stay in place unless North Korea fully abandons its nuclear program.

“If a meeting with Kim Jong Un happens, Trump would brag of it and boast he’s the one who can resolve Korean Peninsula issues as well, so he has something to gain … But would the U.S. have something substantial to give Kim Jong Un in return?” said Chung Jin-young, a former dean of the Graduate School of Pan-Pacific International Studies at South Korea’s Kyung Hee University.

Koh Yu-hwan, a former president of South Korea’s Institute of National Unification, said that any meeting between Trump and Kim around the APEC meeting is unlikely to produce meaningful results. To get Kim back to talks, Koh said Trump would have to bring something enticing him to the table this time around.

North Korea’s evolving threats

Even if they don’t meet this month, there are still chances for Trump and Kim to resume diplomacy later. Kim may see Trump as a rare U.S. leader willing to grant concessions like the nuclear state status, while Trump would think a meeting with Kim would give him a diplomatic achievement in the face of various domestic woes.

There are both hopes and worries about potential dialogue between Trump and Kim.

Some call for the role of diplomacy to ease the danger of North Korea’s enlarged nuclear arsenal. But others caution against Trump settling for rewarding North Korea with an extensive relaxing of sanctions in return for limited steps like freezing its unfinished long-range missile program targeting the U.S. Such deals would leave North Korea with already-built, short-range nuclear missiles targeting South Korea.

Kim Taewoo, another former head of the Institute of National Unification, said “such a small deal” would still benefit South Korea’s security because decades-long efforts to achieve a complete denuclearization of North Korea have made little progress.

“If North Korea possesses an ability to strike the U.S., can the U.S. freely exercise its extended deterrence pledge in the event that North Korea attacks South Korea?” Kim Taewoo said, referring to a U.S. promise to mobilize all military capabilities to protect South Korea. The country has no nuclear weapons of its own and is under the so-called U.S. “nuclear umbrella” protection.

Chung, the former university dean, said there are virtually no chances for North Korea to give up its nuclear program. But he said that giving North Korea sanctions relief in return for partial denuclearization steps would trigger calls in South Korea and Japan for their countries to also be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government shutdown likely means there won’t be an inflation report next month for the first time in more than seven decades, the White House said Friday, leaving Wall Street and the Federal Reserve without crucial information about consumer prices.

“Because surveyors cannot deploy to the field, the White House has learned there will likely NOT be an inflation release next month for the first time in history,” the Trump administration said in an email.

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Some of the inflation data is collected electronically, but most is gathered in person by government employees who visit stores across the country. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which prepares the inflation report, has already reduced the data collected each month because the Trump administration’s hiring freeze left some cities without surveyors.

The announcement follows Friday’s release of September inflation data, which showed prices ticked higher but remained lower than many economists had expected. That report, which was delayed by nine days from its originally-scheduled release, was based on data that was collected before the shutdown began Oct. 1.

In past shutdowns the consumer price index — the government’s principal inflation measure — was compiled based on partial data. But it may be too late to gather even that level of information, the Labor Department said.

“Proposals 2 through 5 are common-sense, targeted reforms that will help us build the smaller, more affordable housing New Yorkers need—across every borough.”

A poll site in The Bronx during the primaries in June. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

As I travel across the city and talk to New Yorkers in every borough, I hear over and over again the anguished stories of families who can’t afford the rent. Parents who fear their children will never be able to live in the neighborhood they grew up in. Lifelong residents wondering if New York is pushing them out.

We are in the midst of the worst housing affordability crisis in our city’s history. And unless we act boldly, the future is grim: the city that never sleeps risks becoming the city where no one can afford a place to rest their head.

For low-income families, the stakes are heartbreaking. Sky-high rents are driving our homelessness crisis. Families are in shelters today because they can’t afford a home. And it’s not just impacting low-income households. Nurses, teachers, bus drivers and middle class New Yorkers are getting priced out of the boroughs where they live, work and raise a family. 

There’s no skirting the truth: we need more housing. And we need it now. On Nov. 4, New Yorkers will have a chance to approve four ballot measures that will strengthen our ability to build more, faster and better homes in our city. New Yorkers can’t afford to say no if we are to meet this crisis head-on. That’s why I’ll be voting yes on ballot proposals 2 through 5.

Right now, we are seeing a citywide vacancy rate of just 1.4 percent. That means just over one in every 100 apartments in our city is available to rent. That’s a disaster for affordability and is pushing New Yorkers out of their homes. 

Meanwhile, cities across the country—and the world—are showing that it can be done right. Jersey City built 13 new homes for every 1,000 residents in 2024. New York City? Just four. Any self respecting New Yorker can agree New Jersey shouldn’t beat us at anything.

We’re also falling behind cities like Denver, Austin, Washington D.C., Houston, and Boston, all of which are leaving us in the dust. We can and must do better. We have no choice.

Proposals 2 through 5 are common-sense, targeted reforms that will help us build the smaller, more affordable housing New Yorkers need—across every borough.

Proposal 2 speeds up approvals for deeply affordable housing. It puts 100 percent affordable projects—and those with at least 25 percent affordability in the 12 community districts that have built the least housing in the past five years—on a faster track: a 90-day clock instead of the current 240-day process. Community Board input is fully preserved, but unnecessary delays are not.

Proposal 3 unlocks low-rise, local-scale housing, like a few apartments above a bodega or laundromat. It makes it easier to add modest, well-integrated buildings in low- and medium-density neighborhoods, and to build smarter in areas already zoned for higher density. It’s about gentle growth, not giant towers.

Proposal 4 creates a new “housing appeals board” made up of elected officials (the mayor, City Council speaker, and the relevant borough president) to revisit only the housing components of projects that may have been blocked in the Council.

This relieves Council members of undue pressure from opponents who exploit the process to stall or kill affordable housing. Members would still have full negotiating power on critical community benefits like parks, schools, and infrastructure.

Proposal 5 brings our zoning into the 21st century. It consolidates over 8,000 physical zoning maps into one digitized official version, making it easier, faster, and clearer to plan for more housing where it makes sense.

If you support the great work the city and state have already done to address the housing crisis, you should also support the Yes on Affordable Housing proposals—because they build upon these critical efforts.

If you want New York City to continue to be the place that firefighters, nurses, teachers and families can call home, flip your ballot and vote yes on ballot measures 2 through 5 this November. 

Mark Levine is a former City Council member, the current Manhattan borough president and incoming city comptroller.

The post Opinion: Vote Yes on Housing Ballot Proposals 2-5 appeared first on City Limits.