Preparing for the 2014 Elections: Iraqi Parliament to Resume Debate on Changes to the Electoral Law, by Reidar Visser

Preparing for the 2014 Elections: Iraqi Parliament to Resume Debate on Changes to the Electoral Law

Posted by Reidar Visser on Saturday, 19 October 

It’s almost four years since Iraq’s general elections of 2010 and new elections are scheduled for early 2014. Iraq wouldn’t be Iraq if there wasn’t some kind of problem on the political horizon, and this time it consists of changes to the electoral law that need to be done in time in order that the electoral commission (IHEC) can starts its technical preparations for the ballot. The Iraqi parliament has given itself until 30 October to adopt the changes, and the debate is scheduled to start this coming week of 21 October.

The immediate reason there has to be changes to the election law is simple. A federal supreme court ruling from June 2010 decided that the current system of seat distribution using the largest remainder principle in a proportional system of 18 multi-member constituencies was “unconstitutional” and that a more proportional system would need to be adopted. In line with this, the Iraqi parliament made changes to the local elections law before the provincial elections earlier this year, by introducing the Sainte Lague method for distributing seats.

Presidential Council ratifies Electoral Law

No change in quotas for minorities


Tuesday, 11 November 2008

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13715&size=A

Presidential council ratifies electoral law. No change in quotas for minorities
Baghdad (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The Iraqi presidential council has ratified the law, approved by parliament on Monday, November 3, with 106 votes out of 150, reserving a quota of seats for minorities, in view of the elections for the renewal of the provincial councils, scheduled for January 31, 2009.

The law sets aside six seats out of a total of 440: three go to Christians (Baghdad, Nineveh, and Basra), one each to the Yazidi and the Shabak in Nineveh, and one to the Sabians, in the capital. On Saturday, November 8, President Jalal Talabani (Kurdish) and vice-presidents Tareq Al Hashemi (Sunni) and Adel Abdul-Mahdi (Shiite) ratified the decree into law, despite the opposition of the Christian community, which had called for a presidential veto.

On Wednesday, November 5, in an interview with AsiaNews, Shlemon Warduni, the auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, called the concession a "token" that does not truly take into account the rights of Iraqi Christians.

On Saturday, November 8, Naseer Ani, head of the presidential staff, released a statement on the "extensive discussions" between the presidential council and Vatican representatives, which examined the invitation of the United Nations to reintroduce article 50. The first draft, which was ultimately rejected, gave 15 seats in six different provinces to the minorities, including 13 for Christians and one each for the Shabak and Yazidi. The head of the presidential cabinet says that in the end, it was decided to ratify the law without introducing any changes, in order to "respect" the role and functions of parliament.

The reply from the Christians is blunt: member of parliament Younaam Kanna says that the community is ready to "boycott the elections," and calls the ratification of the law "an insult." On the Sunni side, involved in a bitter dispute with its Kurdish counterparts in the region of Nineveh, the firm opposition continues to the concession of a quota for minorities. The Sunnis are afraid of an alliance of Christians and Kurds that would increase Kurdish influence in northern Iraq.

Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has also dashed the expectations of the Kurds, emphasizing the need for a "strong federal state," at a moment in which constitutional modifications are proceeding. It is a new signal from the central government on the ambitions of autonomy in certain areas of Iraq, especially the autonomous region of Kurdistan, which has extensive oil reserves. Baghdad is afraid that an eventual referendum could bring an expansion of Kurdish territories.

The provincial elections scheduled for January 31, 2009, will take place in 14 of the 18 provinces of Iraq. Excluded from the elections are Kirkuk and the three provinces of Arbil, Dohuk, and Sulaimaniyah.