“This is the mentality we have to change. How can we change it? By fighting! They should push really hard in their hearts and in their legs and say, ‘This is our right!” (New York Times)

Hello, I’m Charlotte Bellis, and you’re watching newsy.com.

That was an Iraqi woman telling the New York Times the challenges women candidates face in Saturday’s elections.

The Associated Press brings us this video of Iraqis heading to the polls for early voting in the first widely contested race since the American military entered Iraq in 2003.

The election is unprecedented in its widespread participation of women candidates.

Of the 14,000 candidates running, more than 4,000 are women.

The International Herald Tribune reports while women candidates are a good sign for the elections… it hasn’t been easy:

“Some female candidates have had their posters splattered with mud, defaced with beards or torn up.” (International Herald Tribune)

Running for office is a daunting proposition not just for women. Three male candidates were killed Thursday.

FOX News says Iraqi officials are enforcing strict measures to enhance the security and legitimacy of the elections:

“In Mosul, for example, they’ve got a curfew today, the police chief there telling folks not to leave their homes until Saturday when they go out to vote.” (FOX News)

Adding to the challenges… the UN Dispatch reports fraud has been rampant in past elections in the region.

A Sunni leader warns:

“If a fraud happens again in this election like it did in the last one, we will have something else to say. And when that happens, we can say goodbye forever to this whole political process.” (UN Dispatch)

But as the BBC finds, some Iraqis remain skeptical.

A resident from near Baghdad told the BBC:

“Candidates fall into two categories: patriots and opportunists. The first are prepared to die for their cause but they are rare and outnumbered by the second, who use their positions to get rich.” (BBC)

The results of the elections are likely to influence U-S President Barack Obama’s foreign policy in the region.

How successful do you think women candidates will be in Saturday’s elections? How smoothly will the elections go? Share your thoughts with us, and please check out our sources.