Iraq’s next elections
in April 2017 are for provincial councils, although they could be delayed until
the next year because of the war. So far the main talk about the vote is to
change the election law to favor the large parties to ensure their domination of
the local governments.
There are two efforts underway to change the voting process
to favor the big lists. One is to reduce
the number of seats on each provincial council. Parties want to recalculate how
many seats would be up for election based upon the population. One
parliamentarian said that each province would start with 11 seats and then gain
1 more for every 250,000 residents. The second project is to change
how votes are counted. In the previous two elections Iraq used the Sainte-Lague
system that helped small parties gain office. Politicians are now calling
for a new process to be used. In both cases, the large lists are trying to make
it more difficult for the small ones to gain council seats.
The major parties have complained that after the 2009
provincial vote the ruling alliances proved too difficult to manage with so
many parties involved. They now want to try to eliminate that possibility by
changing the system so that large parties like State of Law, Kurdistan
Democratic Party, Mutahidun, etc. would get most of the seats. There are
positives and negatives to limiting the number of victors. The fewer actors
involved would theoretically make deal making and compromise easier. On the
other hand, the ruling parties are largely seen as corrupt and political
failures. Bringing in new parties could start the process of either making the
older lists change or be superseded. What happened after the last local elections
was that the smaller lists offered opportunities for new alliances. Iraq is
still a young democracy so it is still in the process of developing its party
politics so attempts at change and consolidation can be expected in the future.
SOURCES
Buratha News, “The political blocs are going to reduce the number of
provincial seats in the upcoming elections,” 8/3/16
Habib, Mustafa, “The Waiting Game: Iraq’s Many Problems Threaten
Postponement Of 2017 Elections,” Niqash, 9/22/16
Al Mada, “Blocs considering amending the election law to exclude
potential competitors and postponement,” 10/9/16
- “Political parties are preparing for provincial elections to amend
the election law and restructure the Election Commission,” 7/25/16
- “A third amendment to the provincial council law cutting in half
their members and eliminate the districts,” 9/25/16
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