The elections held in Iraq and Palestine don't mean a great new flourishing of democracy and freedom in the Middle East. As maintained in this article, manipulations were involved in the elections to ensure favorable results for candidates and parties that had American support and backing.
The UK's Independent paper has this commentary on methods America is utilising in Iraq to ensure ongoing political and military control over that country.

People please realise that elections by themselves do NOT mean successful democracy regardless of huge voter turnout. While democratic elections have led to significant improvements in some countries, South Africa and Malysia for example, many times elections have been tampered or manipulated or even overturned by major powers (see Chilean coup of 1973 and Augusto Pinochet) to bring on candidates who then proceed to loot or oppress their own countries.