Iraqi Elections 2005 Are We Ready?

Zinda Magazine
Of the more than 3 million Iraqi expatriates living in 14 countries, there are an estimated 800,000 eligible voters.? Half a million of these are expected to join their countrymen(women) on 30 January to elect a 275-member assembly that will appoint a government and draft a constitution.?? The majority of the expatriates live in Canada, Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, the UAE, and the USA.? The largest Iraqi population in the United States are Christian and are affiliated with the Assyrian and Chaldean churches.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) will be conducting an Out-of-Country Voting (OCV) Program on behalf of and under the supervision of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI).? IOM has conducted similar elections for Bosnia-and-Herzegovina, Kosovo, East Timor and more recently the refugee camps in Iran and Pakistan, where over 850,000 Afghans registered and voted for this year’s Presidential election.

IECI to set aside $92 million to register and run the elections for a maximum of one million voters.? The IECI has identified 14 countries with large expatriate Iraqi communities that the Iraq OCV Program could be conducted in:

Iraqis residing in other countries may come to any of the OCV facilities in the 14 countries noted in the table above, keeping in mind that the travel arrangement of the voter is solely his/her own responsibility. Both registration and voting has to take place in-person.

OCV Facilities

The Iraq OCV Program has its headquarters in Amman, Jordan and regional offices and sub-offices in each of the remaining 13 countries.?

In order to participate in the National Assembly election Iraqis will have to register at registration facilities first, and then vote at the polling facilities established in each of these countries. To be considered eligible they must be deemed to be Iraqi and have been born on or before 31 December 1986.? Iraqis must be able to prove their eligibility to participate by providing specific supporting documents on registration.

Registration is planned to take place over a period of several days approximately 2 weeks before the election date. All successful registrants will receive a Registration Receipt which they will have to produce, together with a personal identification document, when returning to cast their ballot.

Following registration there will be a 2-day Display Period during which the lists of registered Iraqis will be available for public inspection. Polling will then take place over 3 days from 28 January to 30 January. In order to avoid voters casting a ballot more than once each voter will have a finger marked with indelible ink after casting the vote.

Votes Counting

Immediately after the close of polls and under strict observation voter list data and ballots from each country will be collected and transferred to the respective Country Offices and then sent onwards to a single location where all of the Iraq OCV ballots will be counted together.

Iraqis will be recruited throughout the program in each country to work as advisors, field coordinators and registration/polling officials.

Voters and individuals interested in assisting with the OCV program are encouraged to check Zinda Magazine’s special Iraqi Election 2005 site at www.zindamagazine.com/election2005 for relevant information such us polling and registration locations, press releases, and contact information.

Proportional Representation

According to the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq.


The Assembly being elected in January is a temporary assembly whose task will be to write the draft of a permanent constitution, which will be put to a vote towards the end of 2005.

Nine of these blocs are listed under Coalitions Lists and comprise 49 political entities. Lists can be as small as 12 candidates and up to 275 candidates long. To meet the women?s quota, a female candidate must be at least one of every three candidates in the order of a list.

Each candidate or party collected up to, but no more than 500 signatures and, if they are independent, pay a deposit of 2.5 million Iraqi Dinars, or if a group, a deposit of 7.5 million Iraqi Dinars. Parties, associations or groups with militia wings were not able to be registered.

Nearly 14 million Iraqis are to expected to vote in the elections.? The number of votes required to gain a seat (the natural threshold) will be determined by the number of total valid votes cast. A maximum estimation of 15 million valid votes would create an initial threshold of 54,545 votes to gain a seat; 10 million votes would require 36,363 votes; and, 5 million votes would require 18,181 votes.? Based on interviews conducted in recent days and information posted on Ankawa.com, most observers expect a threshold of 30,000 votes per seat at the present time.

With 55 seats allocated to the Kurds, the Kurdish population eligible for voting is thus estimated to be around 3,000,000 and that of the Turkomans around 825,000. These figures are clearly inflated. Figures that are more recent put the threshold at 30,000 votes for each MOP, and that brings the voting populations (and not total) of the two groups to 1,650,000 and 450,000 respectively. Of course the discussion here is relativity between Kurdish, Turkoman, and Assyrian (Christian) populations and the essence of the argument still stands.

Both the dissolved Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) and the present Iraqi Interim Government included equally one Assyrian Christian and one Turkoman. Assyrian sources believe that the Assyrian and Turkoman populations (as ethnic groups) in Iraq are close; however, when comparing the Christians and Turkoman populations, the former is larger. The Christians, in a fair election, should deserve no less than 15 seats, similar to the Turkomans. The Kurds would then be assigned 45 seats at best, 10 less than what they are receiving unfairly today.? Five of these 10 seats could be assigned to the Christians and the remaining five to the Shabaks and other smaller groups in Iraq.

The 275 seats of the Iraqi National Assembly (or Parliament) have been assigned based on ethnic and religious groupings, dominated by the Shi’aa and the Kurds:

?

Christian Candidates

The Christian political groups and individuals in Iraq have either aligned themselves with one another to form larger Christian coalitions or with other non-Christian coalitions to increase their chances of entry into either the national or Kurdish parliaments.? There are also several groups not connected with any coalitions.

Christian Coalitions

A.? Bet-Nahrain National Coalition (Qaaimat al-Rafidayn al-Wataniya)

1. Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM)


2. ChaldoAssyrian Syriac National Congress


3. Chaldean National Congress (CNC)

The Bet-Nahrain National Coalition has presented 28 candidates (see list below in Arabic) who include parliamentarians and ministers in the Interim Iraqi Government in addition to independent notables such as Mr. Donny George, head of the Baghdad Museum, and others from various spectra of the ChaldoAssyrian society and provinces of Dohuk, Nineveh, Arbil, Kirkuk, Baghdad, Basrah and others.? Mr. Yonadam Kanna heads the Coalition.?? Note that the third name is that of a female candidate to ensure a 25% participation of women in the Iraqi elections.?

For the election of the Council of the Governorate of Baghdad, the Bet-Nahrain National Coalition will enter the elections as the Coalition of United Federal Patriotic List for Baghdad.

B.? Bet-Nahrain Democratic Coalition (I’itilaf al-Rafidayn al-Demoqrati)

1. Coalition of Patriotic Bet-Nahrain


2. Independent Syriac Movement Coalition ( Harakat al-Tajammo’ al-Suryan al-Mustaqil).

The Coalition has presented 12 candidates.

Mixed Christian Coalitions

A.? People’s Union (Itihad al-Sha’ib)

1. Iraqi Communist Party (ICP)


2. Hikmat Dawood Hakim.

The coalition has presented 275 candidates.

B.? Kurdistan Coalition.

1. Kurdistan Democratic Party


2. Patriotic Union of Kurdistan


3. Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party (BNDP) under Mr. Romeo Hakkari


4. Assyrian Patriotic Party (APP) under Mr. Nimrod Baito


5. Chaldean Democratic Union Party under Mr. Abd al-Ahad Afram

The coalition presented 165 candidates.

Single Party Entries

There are as many as 98 other Christian groups not connected with any coalitions.? Notables among these are:

1. Assyrian National (Patriotic) Coalition under Mr. Odisho Malko Giwargis -? 15 candidates.? This group is mainly associated with the Ancient Church of the East (Old Calendar).
2. Patriotic Coalition under Mr. Hana’ Edward George – 71 candidates.? The group is associated with the Iraqi Communists.

Kurdish Regional Parliament

In north Iraq, a three Christian parties have joined the Kurdish Democratic List and are running for the 5 available seats in the Kurdish Regional Parliament for Christian representatives.? These are:

1. Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party (BNDP) under Mr. Romeo Hakkari


2. Assyrian Patriotic Party (APP) under Mr. Nimrod Baito


3. Chaldean Democratic Union Party under Mr. Abd al-Ahad Afram

The ADM did not participate in these regional elections due to two main reasons:

1. The name issue. The ADM has argued that the name instituted under the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) must be used in the Kurdish regional elections. His Beatitude Mar Emmanuel Delli has also demanded the same from the KDP leadership.


2. Kurdish Domination. The ADM has argued that it is not going to participate in the elections under any other group domination.

Two weeks ago the current Kurdish parliament in north of Iraq addressed these issues and finally that it will modify its by-laws and institute the use of the name ChaldoAssyrians for all the Syriac-speaking Christians in north of Iraq similar to that instituted under TAL. The Kurdish parliament is not going to use two separate names, i.e. Assyrians and Chaldeans, when referring to the Syriac-speaking Christians. An official announcement will be issued soon in this regard.

Last Thursday, the present parliament in north Iraq addressed these issues and finally agreed on modifying its by-laws and the adoption of the name ‘ChaldoAssyrians’ for all Syriac-speaking Christians in north Iraq similar to that instituted under TAL. The Kurdish parliament will not be using two separate names, Assyrians and Chaldeans when referring to the Syriac-speaking Christians. An official announcement is expected in the coming days..

26-12-2004

ܢܗܪܝܐ