A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of 2018 Iraqi Parliamentary Electoral Posters

The paper is a multimodal discourse analysis of Iraqi Parliamentary electoral posters in May 2018. It aims at finding out the ways and tools the political entities participating in those elections use in designing their posters and presenting themselves and their programs to the voters. The analysis involves 17 posters and uses a framework of analysis that suits the nature and purpose of the paper. These 17 posters represent entities and politicians with different political and social backgrounds. The results of the analysis reveal that some political entities represented by electoral posters have names, logos and slogans especially used for the 2018 elections while others either have ones already used in the previous elections or stick to their original ones which they use elsewhere. In most posters, there is a tendency to use the name of the country or a related word; some posters use words that may appeal to the voters through hinting at an alternative to the religious parties which have failed in ruling the country in the previous period, or words that promise change and reformation.