No government has been set up since elections in March. The economy is stuck; unemployment is rising. People complain that political elites are too distant from ordinary people and their urgent needs.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) – As Iraqis still wait for a new government to take over almost three months after the last elections, they are having to put up with increased security concerns and shifting political alliances. Every day, they also have to survive the effects of the political gridlock: violence, lack of basic services and endless red tape.

In an article dated 28 May, the Christian Science Monitor talked to ordinary Iraqis, and heard their complaints about all sorts of difficulties, whether permits or registrations or even cashing their pension.

Some are so upset that they view their vote in the last elections as “worthless”, blaming the situation on the wide gap that exists between politicians and the people.

In casual conversations, call-in radio shows or in newspaper cartoons, Iraq's ruling elites are seen as Green Zone dwellers with 24-hour electricity, personal bodyguards, and little empathy for the suffering of ordinary folk.

For Bahaa al Araji, a Member of Parliament allied with militant Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr, the delay in forming a government "has paralysed all avenues of life.”

For instance, he noted that 111,000 government jobs approved by the outgoing parliament have yet to be filled because the new parliament must set up an employment council to authorise hiring—bad news for a country where the unemployment rate hovers around 30-40 per cent.

“As for life for Iraqis in the meantime, real estate transactions and the trade markets have halted as a result of the anxiety Iraqis have regarding the new government," Araji said. "Even socially, Iraqis are affected by the delay—they don't know what tomorrow will bring."

According to US Ambassador Chris Hill, US diplomats have not seen major government failures in performing its duties since the election; however, the lack of parliamentary oversight and the inability to launch new initiatives for the past three months are frustrating ordinary Iraqis.

Case in point, Baghdad's central pension office, where elderly retirees recently filled out pension forms, only to be told that their applications could not be accepted. Various reasons were given, but the weary patrons blamed it on the power vacuum.

"I can't find an official to complain to; there's nobody to even receive our complaints—we haven't had a government in months," grumbled Moussa Mohammed, a retired army colonel.

Faiz Jalil Falih, 30, whose job is to help retirees fill out their applications, said that fewer of them show up because too many are scared to risk their lives coming to an office where they'll only find delays.

"We continue to clean the streets by ourselves with or without a government; the electricity is still off with or without a government; water is still down with or without a government and, finally, security is bad with or without a government," fisherman Tareq Hatif said.

• iraq
• political
• impasse
• elections
• delays
• complaints
• pensions
• jobs