Proposals For 2010 Election Law Go To Parliament

The plans for the 2010 parliamentary election law crafted by the Political Council for National Security are being sent to the legislature today, October 27, 2009. The proposals are for Iraq to use an open list that allows voters to select individual candidates or lists, to use the 2004 election roles, and to divide Tamim province into two voting districts. The first district will be for those that voted in the January 2005 election, and the second will be for those that registered afterward. A source told Alsumaria TV that the major Arab, Kurdish, and Turkmen parties had agreed to these plans. That is especially important if true, because on October 26, a lawmaker from the Kurdish Alliance said that they would boycott any vote on an election law that gave Tamim special status. Now it’s up to parliament to actually hold a vote on the bill. There is still plenty of speculation that some major parties want to delay that for as long as possible, because the Iraqi Election Commission has said that it will impose the old 2005 voter law that included a closed list if the legislature can’t come to a consensus. In a closed list the public can only vote for alliances, and not individuals. That tends to favor the large groupings.

SOURCES

AK News, “Kurds to boycott votes on proposals over Kirkuk status,” 10/26/09

Alsumaria, “Parliament discusses Kirkuk proposal,” 10/27/09