By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Anwar Ibrahim, 25, is so frustrated with Iraq's sectarian politics that he is running for parliament, joining a wave of young Iraqis challenging an entrenched elite at elections next week.

“I believe young people and technocrats should be given the space to participate in the management of the state, and that we should put an end to the domination of certain parties,” said Ibrahim, a pro-democracy activist.

Many Iraqis remain skeptical, seeing the November 11 vote as unlikely to bring real change to the country's stagnant politics, with the same powerful groups controlling the state and its oil wealth since Saddam Hussein’s fall in 2003.

Yet the presence of significant numbers of youth candidates -- for the second time since elections in 2005 -- marks a political coming of age for Iraqis who were infants or children when Saddam was toppled, and could energize demands for reform.

“The fact that around 40 percent of registered candidates are young people shows there’s growing interest among Iraq’s youth to take part in shaping the country’s future,” an Iraqi High Electoral Commission official told Reuters.

“It reflects a desire for renewal and for a stronger voice from a generation that has long felt excluded from politics.”

Most of the new youth candidates are in their late 20s to mid-30s, a sharp........

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