Building a resilient electoral information environment in Iraq

The implementation event focused on agreeing on activities from the roadmap event that would be implemented by 12 civil society organizations (CSOs).

The meeting brought together the Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) and leading CSOs. The organizations that took part in the workshop included the Baghdad Center for Public Policy, Baghdad Women Association, Naz Organization for Developing Women, Strategic Center for Human Rights, Kurdish Institute for Elections, Al-Furatin Foundation for Election, the Alliance of Iraqi Minorities Network (AIM). Moreover, several academics joined the workshop.

Throughout the event, participants collaborated to develop terms of reference for each organization, outlining their roles in upcoming activities ahead of the parliamentary election on 11 November 2025. These efforts will center around three main objectives that include: monitoring and countering sectarian and hate speech through public outreach, encouraging higher voter turnout via awareness videos and seminars, and launching an “Iraq Filter”, a digital platform modelled after the Libyan “Filter” Facebook page, to address misleading narratives that undermine the credibility of Iraq’s electoral process.

The overall project aims to improve the protection of electoral processes by countering malign influencing practices and learning from evolving discourse and engagement in six different focus countries. Informed by global best practices and exchanges between partner countries, the project will enable national actors in focus countries to identify suggestions for the way forward, work towards implementing suggestions, and share lessons learned with global audiences.