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Legislative elections were held in Iraq on January 30, 2005. The elections were for a 275-member transitional Iraqi National Assembly, which will write a new and permanent Constitution for Iraq and will also exercise legislative functions until the new Constitution comes into effect. Early indications are that candidates supported by the majority Shi'a Muslim community will win a majority of seats in the Assembly. The outcome of the election will not be known for another week. Eighteen provincial councils and a 111-member council of the Kurdistan Regional Government were also elected.
Results and turnout
Early returns from 13 of Iraq's 18 provinces show that the United Iraqi Alliance, generally believed to be backed by Shi'a leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is leading with 2.3 million votes out of the 4.36 million that have been counted. With the release of the vote count in two of the three Kurdish provinces in northern Iraq the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan has moved into second place with some 1.1 million votes. Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party, the Iraqi List, is coming a distant third with some 620,000 votes [1] (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7556447). Even in Baghdad, where it was believed Allawi had a strong following, his list was polling only 26 percent of the vote (with nearly 1 million votes counted), while Sistani's list was polling 61 percent. In some areas of Iraq the votes have not yet been counted and the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) warned that these numbers should not be used to predict the final outcome of the election.[2] (http://www.ksbitv.com/home/1231442.html) The remaining areas yet to be counted include a number of Sunni areas, but also some large Shi'ite provinces and one Kurd dominated province. The United Iraqi Alliance is now widely expected to win an outright majority of the seats in the new parliament with the Kurds forming the second largest group. [3] (http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_world_story_skin/472707%3fformat=html)
No definite figure is yet available for turnout in the elections. Shortly before the polls closed, Farid Ayar, the spokesman for the IECI, estimated the turnout at 72 percent. He later retracted this claim, saying that turnout would be more like 60 percent of registered voters.[4] (http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000193.php) Turnout is said by officials to have been high both in the Shi'a areas of the south and in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region; Chief Electoral Officer Adil al-Lami offered a figure of 90 percent to the BBC, although he would not say how the figure had been reached.[5] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4219569.stm) Turnout was relatively low in the Sunni areas, since the main Sunni parties boycotted the elections.
By February 8 the IECI said it had counted 4.36 million votes, but no new national totals had been released. One indication of the very low turnout among Sunni voters was the report that the Shi'a-dominated United Iraqi Alliance was leading the count in Salaheddin Governorate, north of Baghdad, which has a large Sunni majority. This suggested that very few Sunnis in the area, which includes Tikrit, had voted. [6] (http://middle-east.news.designerz.com/shiite-list-leads-iraq-election-in-key-sunni-province.html?d20050207)
Monitoring
The election was monitored by the International Mission for Iraqi Elections made up of members from nine nations and headed by Canada. It was supported by the United Nations but was not a UN operation. The UN recused itself from monitoring the election as it had played a central role in setting up the election. A number of UN staffers worked within the Iraqi electoral commission setting up the election and are considered by some to be de facto international observers. It proved impossible to find monitors that would actually monitor the election from within the country. Rather the IMIE observers were based in Amman, Jordan and monitored the election from there. There were also representatives in Baghdad, generally the staff in the embassies of the IMIE nations. The absentee poll held in fourteen countries around the world were monitored by a wide array of IGO and NGOs, but these groups were unwilling to monitor the election in Iraq itself.
It is highly unusual to base the monitoring team outside of the country where the election is being held, but the observers decided this was necessary for safety reasons. Among other security precautions all but the head of the mission, Canadian Jean-Pierre Kingsley remained anonymous. The main burden on monitoring the election thus fell to Iraqi representatives on the ground who sent reports to Amman. The majority of these volunteers were some 35,000 partisan scrutineers representing the parties competing in the election. Another 21,000 non-partisan volunteers were recruited by a variety of agencies and NGOs. [7] (http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/01/28/913415-cp.html) The observers assert that despite the unusual circumstances the election was adequately monitored. Others disagree arguing that the IMEI was created to rubber stamp the U.S. created elections [8] (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jan2005/cana-j17.shtml).
The final report of the IMIE group has not been issued, but Kingsley stated that "the Iraqi elections generally meet international standards," while a preliminary assessment released after polling closed said that areas needing improvement included "transparency regarding financial contributions and expenditures, improvements to the voter registration process and reviewing the criteria for candidate eligibility." [9] (http://www.boston.com/dailynews/031/world/Iraqi_elections_meet_internati:.shtml)
Disruption
Armed Islamist, Ba'athist and other groups, which have carried out a campaign of bombings and assassinations in Iraq since the occupation in 2003 (see Iraqi resistance), threatened to disrupt the elections by suicide bombing and other violent tactics, but a rigid security clampdown succeeded in preventing major disruption of the polling. In most parts of the country Iraqis were able to vote freely. More than 100 armed attacks on polling places took place, killing at least 44 people (including nine suicide bombers) across Iraq, including at least 20 in Baghdad. But threats by opponents of the election to "wash the streets in blood" were not fulfilled.
Structure of the elected government
Iraq's interim constitution provides for an Iraqi Transitional Government to replace the Iraqi Interim Government. Besides the National Assembly, the transitional government will also include the Presidency Council, the Council of Ministers, and the judicial authority.
The members of the new National Assembly will be selected from 196 candidate lists, chosen by proportional representation using the Hare quota and the largest remainder method with a threshold of one quota. At least every third candidate on each list must be female, although if many lists each return small number of assembly members the proportion who are women may fall a little short of an exact third. Most observers expect some 30% of the Assembly to be female. The Assembly will write a permanent Constitution, which will then be voted on in a referendum. If the draft Constitution is passed, a new assembly will be elected following the rules laid out in it. Thus this is potentially the first of three elections that will be held in Iraq this year.
Iraqi voters lining up outside a polling place in Az Zubayr Political groups
The main political factions united into several coalitions, each competing in a joint list. The coalitions were more closely linked with ethnic and sectarian divisions than with positions on the political spectrum. The following enumeration includes only a sample of the 111 lists contesting the election.
- United Iraqi Alliance (mainly Shia Arab: includes moderate and radical Islamists, liberal secularists, and others)
- Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan (mainly Kurdish: includes traditionalists, social democrats, Communists, and Islamists)
- Iraqi List (mainly secular Shia, led by former exile and interim prime minister Iyad Allawi)
- National Rafidain List (mainly Assyrian Christians, led by the Assyrian Democratic Movement)
- Independent Democrats Movement (secular, led by former exile Adnan Pachachi)
- The Iraqis (mainly tribal Sunni Arabs, led by interim president Ghazi al-Yawer)
- People's Union (Itthad al Shaab, mainly Shia: secular leftists led by the Iraqi Communist Party)
- Iraqi Turkmen Front (Turkmen)
- Independent Alliance of Civil Societies (feminist and human rights groups)
Organized Sunni Arab groups (including the Iraqi Islamic Party, the Association of Muslim Scholars, and the banned Ba‘ath Arab Socialist Party) boycotted the elections. However, there were Arab Sunnis on the lists of secular parties.
Reactions to the election
Supportive
The United States and Britain, whose invasion of Iraq in 2003 to remove the regime of former President Saddam Hussein made the elections possible, hailed the elections as a vindication of their actions. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "It was moving and humbling for those of us lucky enough to live in a democracy and take it for granted, to see the enthusiasm and the simple determination, the clear sight of courage of millions of Iraqis that came out to vote for the first time in their lives, despite the terrorism, despite the threats, despite the dangers." [10] (http://www.axcessnews.com/worldnews_013005c.shtml)
French President Jacques Chirac, a frequent critic of actions of the U.S. and Britain in Iraq, said that the elections showed that "the strategy of terrorist groups [had] partly failed." The election was "an important stage in the political reconstruction of Iraq," he said. He also said that the turnout and technical organisation of the elections was "satisfactory." [11] (http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=58&story_id=16389&name=Chirac+congratulates+Bush+on+Iraq+election) Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also opposed the invasion, called the elections "a step in the right direction" and a "positive event." [12] (http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/2/2/233843.shtml)
Many western media organisations said that the elections had been fairly conducted and that turnout had been higher than expected. The New York Times, which opposed the invasion, editorialised: "In an impressive range of mainly Shiite and Kurdish cities, a long silenced majority of ordinary Iraqis defied threats of deadly mayhem to cast votes for a new, and hopefully democratic, political order. That is a message that all but the most nihilistic of the armed insurgents will have to accept."
Bruce Anderson in the London Independent wrote: "It was truly a great day for the Iraqi people, even if the blood of heroes had to spill. So Iraq would appear the most infertile soil for democracy - except for one factor. The people want it. Yesterday large numbers of them risked their lives to vote and in many cases they had to spend hours queuing; hours as potential targets. In so doing, they were not just making a political statement. They were making a moral statement."
Critical
The election was seen as illegitimate by al-Qaida. An unnamed affiliate dismissed the elections as "theatrics" and promised to continue waging "holy war" against coalition forces. "These elections and their results ... will increase our strength and intention to getting rid of injustice," read the statement, which was posted to an Islamist web site. [13] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20050201/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_050201130760)
There have been accusations of a propaganda campaign surrounding the vote. [14] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1402922,00.html) Sami Ramadani, an Iraqi exile and senior lecturer at London Metropolitan University, has pointed to what he describes as "uncanny similarities" between reports of these elections and a report in the New York Times published on 4 September, 1967, headed, "US encouraged by Vietnam vote: Officials cite 83% turnout despite Vietcong terror" and goes on to say that U.S. "officials were surprised and heartened" by the size of the turnout "despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting."[15] (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7943.htm)
According to the Interfax newsgency former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev called the elections a profanation. "What we were observing in Iraq on Sunday, as well as preparations preceding the elections, is very far from what true elections are. And even though I am a supporter of elections and of the transfer of power to the people of Iraq, these elections were fake." He went on to state "I don't think these elections will be of any use. They may even have a negative impact on the country. Democracy cannot be imposed or strengthened with guns and tanks." [16] (http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=10744525).
Out-of-country voting
The entrances of the Paris polling station were guarded by CRS police, given the possibility of disruption. See our Wikinews coverage. Voting in Washington, DC, USA The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) also held an "Out-of-Country Voting Program"; it was conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The goal of the program was to enable approximately one million eligible voters living outside Iraq to participate in the election of the transitional National Assembly. There are 280,303 registered expatriates. By far the largest group of those eligible to vote are in Iran with significant populations in a number of western countries. Iraqi expatriates voted from January 28 to January 30, 2005. International voters could place their ballots in fourteen countries:
- Australia: Melbourne and Sydney
- Canada: Calgary (1), Ottawa (1), and Toronto (3)
- Denmark: Copenhagen
- France: Paris
- Germany: Berlin, Cologne, Mannheim, and Munich
- Iran: Ahvaz, Kermanshah (in Kermanshah province), Mashhad, Orumiyeh, Qom, and Tehran
- Jordan: Amman
- The Netherlands: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Zwolle
- Sweden: Gothenburg and Stockholm
- Syria: Damascus
- Turkey: Ankara, Istanbul
- United Arab Emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai
- United Kingdom: Glasgow, London, and Manchester
- United States: Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Los Angeles, California; Nashville, Tennessee; and Washington, D.C.
The preliminary tally of these votes was released by the IECI on February 4, 2005. They found the United Iraqi Alliance in the lead with 36.15% of the vote. According to the Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1107487146382) the full totals were:
- United Iraqi Alliance - 95,318 votes or 36.15%
- Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan - 78,062 votes, or 29.6%
- Iraqi List - 24,136 votes, or 9.15%
- National Rafidain List - 18,538 votes, or 7.03%.
- People's Union - 11,640 votes, or 4.41%
- Iraq Turkman Front - 6,329 votes, or 2.40%
- National Assyrian Group - 4,198 votes, or 1.59%
- The Iraqis - 2,315 votes, or 0.88%
These results are unlikely to be representative of the vote in Iraq itself. Iraqi Christians, who are the base of support for the National Rafidain List and the National Assyrian Group, are heavily overrepresented in exile communites as are Kurds.
See also
- - Wikinews coverage
- Iraqi elections kept low-key, but secure, in Paris - Wikinews coverage
External links
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