Rejection of an electoral law that enshrines the dominance of the power parties in Iraq

Rejection of an electoral law that enshrines the dominance of the power parties in Iraq

2-26-2023

Rejection of an electoral law that enshrines the dominance of the power parties in IraqWidespread controversy and disagreements erupted between the Iraqi political and social forces, following the parliament’s discussion of a draft amendment to the law on legislative elections and provincial councils, which the “coordinating framework” forces insist on and aims to continue dominating power and parliament, amid the rejection of the forces of change from the independent deputies, the Tishreen deputies, and the Sadrist movement, for this. The amendment, which is considered an abortion of the achievements of the October reform movement.

The (Shiite) Coordinating Framework forces, which represent the majority of the parties in power, are striving, with strength and determination, to pass amendments to the election law that guarantee them achieving a majority in any upcoming elections, even if the people’s participation is very weak, in order to compensate for their loss in the last elections of most of their seats in favor of the independent forces. The deputies of the October movement and the Sadrist movement, and the resulting constitutional crises and political differences, reached in 2022 the extent of a clash between the armed factions in the heart of the Green Zone, followed by the withdrawal of the Sadrist movement from the political process and the dominance of the framework forces over it.
In the aftermath of the termination of the Iraqi parliament, the first reading of the draft law on provincial elections, which is also intended to be used in legislative elections, it became clear that the new draft law, through which the framework forces aim, is to return to the old electoral system, “Saint Lego”, whose abolition was one of the most prominent achievements The popular demonstrations in Iraq in October 2019 and the consequent loss of most of the parties and factions of the Shiite coordination framework and the rise of the Forces for Change, the independents, and the October Movement in the recent elections. The “Saint Lego” mechanism relies on the distribution of voter votes, according to the electoral denominator 1.9, which makes the fortunes of large political entities escalate at the expense of individual candidates (independent and civilian), as well as emerging and small entities.

National rejection campaign

Many political forces have expressed their rejection of the power parties’ unilateral amendment of the country’s election law, calling for the involvement of all Iraqi political parties and forces in drafting a new election law.
In this context, representatives of 14 political parties and entities announced, in a joint press conference in the parliament building, their opposition to the proposed law, and their intention to form a political alliance opposing the political class that has dominated power in Iraq since 2003. At the press conference, those parties called in a statement issued by them
, To involve all parties in drafting the election law, with an emphasis on fairness, equal opportunities, restoring citizen confidence in the electoral process, and not being biased towards the political parties and currents that rule the country. They also called for amending the Electoral Commission law and replacing its current administration.
The statement called for the need to activate and implement the (broken) Elections Law No. 36 of 2015 before the start of early elections to prevent the use of political money, occupational and media exploitation, and armed threats, as stipulated in the applicable parties law, stressing that “these 14 parties will have a position that rejects any law.” It is enacted away from the registered parties that are not represented in parliament,” and warned that this would lead to more tension and political and popular anger in Iraq, which refuses to repeat the dark faces and corrupt parties.
In its program, the Iraqi government pledged to make some amendments to the current election law, according to which the last parliamentary elections were held, and to organize provincial elections at the end of this year.

opponents of the amendments

In order to learn about the positions of the various political forces regarding the amendments to the election law, Al-Quds Al-Arabi conducted a dialogue with some representatives and political leaders.
The representative of the “Imtiad Movement” (Al-Tishriniya), Ahmed Majeed Miteb Al-Sharmani, spoke to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, saying: “In the beginning, we, as an extension movement, demanded, before participating in the recent parliamentary elections in 2018, the abolition of the provincial councils in accordance with the legal and constitutional contexts, as they were councils for extortion and investments. Bargaining did not provide anything on the service and administrative level for the Iraqi citizen, but due to the difficulty of abolishing these councils in parliament and the fact that we do not have a majority, and because the Iraqi constitution is rigid, we at least seek not to pass the mechanism of the notorious St. Lego Law, which the ruling parties exploited in previous electoral cycles, to tighten their grip Strengthening its power and consolidating its control over the Iraqi political decision. This matter created great and dangerous popular discontent, which reached the point of the outbreak of a massive revolution in 2019, in which thousands of martyrs and wounded fell, and changed the course of history in Iraq. Stressing that «the first fruits of that change was the abolition of the individual multi-district election law and the St. Lego system. Therefore, after all the sacrifices made by our people in rejection of the law and its outputs, we will never accept it again, and we will have a unified position as emerging blocs and young and independent movements towards it.
As for the leader of the Communist Party, Jassim Al-Halfi, he assured Al-Quds Al-Arabi that “there is no more informative evidence of the ruling junta’s adherence to power, than its resort to changing the election law before each electoral process, in order to ensure its domination of power, and that the instability of the election law is An indication of the instability of the political system as well as the mood of participation in the elections is imprinted with no futility, especially when we witness that the exits of the elections is the rotation of the Algarcian (minority rule) in power, and the consolidation of quotas to preserve the balance of power between the influential, while ensuring that there is no winner or loser between them, especially after the winner is excluded. The largest, the Sadrist list, from the lead in the 2018 elections, as happened with the exclusion of the Iraqi List from forming the government, despite its leadership in the results of the elections in 2010.
Al-Halfi added, “Changing laws according to the interests of the influential was not the only defect in the electoral process, as all of them were accompanied by violations, fraud, buying votes, extravagance of political money and sectarian charging, while its results were not spared from appeals even by the influential themselves, and thus the elections became meaningless. The best case is to calculate the variables of the proportions of the influential powers in power, as a relative criterion for dividing the spoils according to the quota approach.
He said, “It seems that the biggest goal of that is to create frustration with democracy, which was never a goal in their curricula, because there is no democracy without democrats, and the ruling junta in Iraq seeks to democratize their system of government once sham elections are held, where the influential is the one who legislates its law and runs it with his followers.” The important thing is that the boring play eventually results in adorning his image and legitimizing his rule.
He concluded, “Enacting an electoral law in which the real opposition forces, the forces of reform and change, do not contribute, is not only a distortion of the elections and a distortion of its goal as a mechanism for calculating the balance of political forces with a just and fair standard, but rather it is an assault on democracy and its values, which requires the forces of change to confront minority rule.” And to be vigilant and ready to put forward a draft electoral law that achieves justice, fairness and integrity, away from political money and armed arms.
Regarding the position of the components, the representative of Kirkuk, Gharib Askar, told Al-Quds Al-Arabi that “despite the agreement of the political blocs forming the government of Muhammad al-Sudani to amend the election law, political differences over the wording of the law still exist. There is an opinion that wants to go to the multiple constituencies and an opinion that wants one constituency, in addition to the dispute over adopting the St. Lego formula, which the independents reject. The deputy added, “With regard to the Turkmen component that I represent in Parliament, we, as Turkmen, also see the need to pass a law that takes into account the rights of all components, and this can only be achieved through fair representation of the Turkmen component.

Sadrist position

In the midst of this turmoil, observers note that the Sadrist movement, which achieved progress in the recent elections, and later withdrew from the political process, has not yet announced an official position on the proposed amendments to the election law, except for leaks from some Sadrists, who indicated the rejection of the proposed amendments, and the possibility of ending The leader of the Sadrist movement isolated him politically and mobilized his supporters to confront the new amendments that stand against the interests of the people.
Sources in the Sadrist movement revealed attempts by some leaders of the “Coordination Framework” coalition to contact the leader of the Sadrist movement to convince him of the proposed amendments to the new election law, stressing that “Moqtada al-Sadr had previously rejected most of the proposed amendments, preferring that the current law remain in accordance with the multiple constituencies in each governorate.” . While observers believe that “the insistence of the framework forces to legislate a law that contradicts the orientations of the Sadrists, as well as the Tishrinists and the forces of change, may prompt a popular movement to prevent changing the law.”
Veteran MP Mahmoud al-Mashhadani predicted, in a television interview, that the Sadrist movement would not participate in the upcoming local elections if they took place according to the Lego Law, which the framework insists on, noting that “Al-Sadr may remain in the opposition and not participate in the political process, contenting himself with his influential presence in the masses.”

The position of change forces and organizations

In addition to the independent parties and the Sadrist movement, the circle of rejection of the “amended” election law widened, as civil society organizations and jurists expressed their rejection of the law, warning of the danger of proceeding with its legislation.
A group of civil society organizations, the Forces for Democratic Change and the Watan Parliamentary Bloc held an expanded meeting in Baghdad, in order to discuss the legal contexts during which the first reading of the draft amendment to the provincial elections law took place, which included practices “not consistent with democratic principles”, according to a statement issued by them. They affirmed, “The return to St. Lego aims to circumvent the will of the people, and to preserve the dominance of the traditional forces of power, whose fragility was proven by the 2022 elections.”
The statement of the Forces for Change and Democracy and the groups allied with them confirmed that “the combined forces have taken a decision on the need to form a unified front that includes all the forces that believe in democratic values, and that it undertakes to present draft amendments to the provincial elections law, after involving a wide range of political parties, civil organizations, federations and syndicates, and opinion.” public, to meet their aspirations.
And she emphasized that “passing laws related to elections and civil and political liberties should not pass without the real participation of civil forces in decision-making.” And she considered that the draft amendment “contains dangerous legal provisions that undermine democracy, participation in elections, fair competition, and the integrity of the electoral process.” The head of the opposition National House Party, Hussein al-Gharabi, says, “The enactment of a new election law cannot be subject to the losing forces in the recent elections, and I mean the coordination framework.” Al-Gharabi explained, in a press statement, that the political process in Iraq lost its legitimacy when 20 percent of the Iraqis participated in it, and then the largest winning bloc (the Sadrist movement) withdrew, and then this political process lost its popular legitimacy.
The Legal Committee in the Iraqi parliament had previously announced, on February 14, its reservations about the “amended” election law, stressing the need to separate the provincial elections law from the general parliamentary elections.
It is noteworthy that since 2003, the issuance of all laws or amendments to them in Iraq has been subject to the interests and platforms of the influential political blocs and parties in Parliament and the government, and the opinions of specialists in the constitutional and legal fields are rarely sought in the preparation of these laws. With everyone agreeing that the re-adoption of the St. Lego system and the single constituency, its aim is to exclude the opposition forces (emerging forces of change and independents) from Parliament. This means that the situation will return to what it was before the October demonstrations, for which the abolition of the Lego Law was one of the few practical gains for it, as it led to an easing of tension, and also enabled the civil forces and independents to obtain 47 seats in the current parliament, while Iraqis are watching the results. The current struggle of wills between the advocates of change and reform and the parties in power.

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