A worker of Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) carries a sealed ballot box as others perform a manual count of votes to match the electronic count at one of the commission's headquarters in the Karkh district of on December 23, 2023, days after the first provincial council vote held in a decade. Iraqis on December 18 voted in the local elections which were expected to strengthen the dominance of pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim groups. The vote comes at a time of widespread political apathy and disillusionment in the oil-rich country of 43 million that is still recovering from years of war and plagued by corruption. (Photo by MURTAJA LATEEF / AFP)