By Tim Arango in Amara, Iraq, New York Times, May 3, 2013

Photo shows Gov. Dwai Clad in his trademark blue auto mechanic’s outfit. Credit: Adam Ferguson for the NYT.

[.....] For Iraqis around the country, most of whom are fed up with poor services, sectarian politics, and violence, the governor, Ali Dwai of Maysan Province, provides a rare example of democracy’s potential. [.....] Everyone, it seems, loves Mr. Dwai, a follower of the anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr and perhaps Iraq’s most popular politician. In a country where leaders are separated from the people by bodyguards and blast walls, and where the space between politicking and bribery is thin, Mr. Dwai has become something of a folk hero. [.....]

“A leader must be close to the people,” Mr. Dwai said in an interview in his cavernous office after a morning touring public works projects where at each stop he was accosted by citizens offering thanks or asking for favors. [.....]

As governor, he has embraced Mr. Sadr’s strategy of elevating the movement above its sectarian past, when the Mahdi Army was associated with some of the worst abuses against Sunni Muslims during the civil war.

In the interview, Mr. Dwai [.....] played down his party affiliation, saying only that he followed Mr. Sadr’s father as a religious leader. “It doesn’t make a difference if you are Sunni or Shiite or Christian,” he said. “I don’t differentiate between anyone.” In the old city, Jalal Daniel, a Christian, was among those surrounding Mr. Dwai. At 57, Mr. Daniel has never seen a politician responsive to the people. “It’s not about Sadr,” he said. Mr. Dwai, he said, “always says, ‘I am a son of Iraq.’ He’s not about his party.”

Local people say services have improved enormously [.....]