Washington Kurdish Institute
April 20, 2021
Voter representation is no longer based on demographics and candidates no longer properly represent their constituents due to disproportionate allocation of seats based on arbitrary criteria.
In October 2019 Iraqi citizens took to the streets and held peaceful anti-government protests. The protesters were fed up with poor living conditions, unemployment, lack of security and ongoing sectarian violence. In reaction to the protests, Iraqi security forces and Iranian-backed militias killed at least 669 people and wounded over 25,000. After international backlash to the killings, Iraqi parties agreed to adopt a new election law. On December 24, 2019, with no time to debate or address the concerns of minorities in the country, the Iraqi parliament, comprised of mainly Shia sectarian parties loyal to Iran, passed a new election law. The Kurdish minority vehemently opposed the bill and boycotted the session, but the Iranian-backed blocs with help of some Sunni factions were able to gather enough votes to pass the bill without the votes of the unified Kurdish bloc.
In a conversation with Washington Kurdish Institute (WKI) President, Sierwan Karim, the former Speaker of the Kurdistan Region Parliament, Dr. Kamal Kirkuki, addressed the issues with the new election laws and its challenges. Dr. Kirkuki, the current Chairman of the Kirkuk-Garmian Command Council for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), underlined the problematic articles of the election law and how it will create even more problems in the country. The information below outlines the shortcomings of the electoral law and where it violates the Iraqi constitution:
- Chapter 1 / Article 1 / Electoral Districts: Each specific region is allocated a number of seats according to this law.
Dividing the number of electoral seats for the Iraqi Council of Representatives violates Article 49 of the Iraqi Constitution which states that one parliamentary seat is allocated per every 100,000 Iraqis.
- Chapter 1 / Article 2: Guaranteeing the rights of the voters and candidates in electoral participation
- Chapter 1 / Article 2 / (Cont’d): Ensuring the fairness, freedom, and integrity of elections.
Voter representation is no longer based on demographics and candidates no longer properly represent their constituents due to the disproportionate allocation of seats based on arbitrary criteria.
- Chapter 4 / Article 13: The Council of Representatives consist of (329) seats. (320) seats are distributed to the governorates according to their administrative borders.
This clearly contradicts Article 1 / Chapter 1. Conversely, the numbers of representatives (320) should be divided among the electoral districts without the 9 quota seats distributed becausethe election is operated on the “multiple- electoral districts.” It is not possible to distribute the seats to the governorates in accordance with Articles 2, 3 and 4 of Chapter 1 – Law No. 9 of 2020.
Voting methods:
Chapter 2 / Article 5 / (the requirement for voting): Registered voters, in accordance with the provisions of this law, regulations and procedures. Voters must possess an electronic voter card, issued by the Commission along with one of three official documents showing the civil status identity:
1. Civil Identification Card
2. The Unified Card
3. Iraqi nationality certificate
This article references the requirements for participation in Iraqi elections. However, it omits any reference to the government-issued biometrics card which voters will be allowed to use to cast their votes when presented along with one of the three official documents mentioned above.
Chapter 9 / Article 39: Special voting (for health and security workers) takes place 48 hours before general polling by presenting their biometric voter card exclusively.
The explicit requirements for those participating in the “special voting” period state that only the biometric card is accepted as proof of voter eligibility. This clearly contradicts the requirements referenced in the previous article.
Chapter 9 / Article 39 / (cont’d): Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) vote according to the most recent official statistics provided to the Commission by the Ministries of Immigration, Displacement and Trade. IDPs have the right to vote in the place in which they reside and vote for their original constituency from which they were displaced using the biometric card.
Once again, the rights of IDPs have been marginalized, in a way similar to those who participate in the so-called “special voting” period due to them using a biometric card as opposed to the electronic voting card which is referenced in Chapter 2 Article 5.
Chapter 9 / Article 39 / (cont’d): Iraqis abroad vote for their constituencies using the biometric card exclusively.
Note: a recent amendment to the voting process, passed in Iraqi Council of Representatives, denies Iraqi citizens outside of the country from participating in the upcoming October 2021 election.
Manipulation and fraud:
Chapter 9 / Article 38: The Commission shall adopt an accelerated method of announcing the electronic results within (24) hours of the polls closing. The manual counting and sorting process is carried out for the purpose of matching the electronic results to manually hand counted results with a sample size of one station per electoral center. In the event that the results of the electronic counting and sorting do not match the results of the manual hand counted results by 5% or more of the votes for the respective station, then manual counting and sorting of all the votes of the polling station is conducted. The final results are based on manual counting. In the event of an appeal at any polling station, the High Electoral Commission is tasked with recounting the votes in the presence of political party representatives to certify the results.
This will allow for political parties to submit appeals regardless of the difference in counting. In other words, political parties can reject the results of the electronic counting mechanism and its accelerated results, instead relying on the manual counting and sorting mechanism which increases the likelihood of fraud.
Additionally, in Article 9 / Article 39 (cont’d) According to the same law, voters who hold an electronic voter card where the fingerprint is not readable are still allowed to vote, through an instruction from the polling official to skip fingerprint verification. This law allows each voter to vote 10 times since each time they are only required to fingerprint one finger. This will result in clear fraud in the voting process.
Electoral boundaries:
- Law No. 9 of 2020 failed to adopt a specific mechanism for delineating the boundaries of electoral districts. Delineation was supposed to be carried out by an independent authority called the Border Demarcation Authority to ensure the electoral district boundaries were drawn according to clear criteria by an independent and competent authority. However, the current electoral boundaries were determined in backdoor meetings rather than relying on a specific mechanism based on professionalism and transparency. This is a defect in the delineation process of determining the electoral district boundaries.
Lack of Census:
- The lack of a general population census on which to base the distribution of parliamentary seats led the Council of Representatives to rely on 2021 estimates provided by the Ministry of Trade and Planning. This is a circumvention of the law and an injustice to the Iraqi people.
Dr. Kirkuki and Mr. Karim share deep skepticism about the upcoming Iraqi elections due to several factors including unjust laws adopted in political backrooms, regional influence and whitewashing of the atrocities by a political system that does not, has not, and will not serve its people justly.
The voices of protestors, displaced people, and minorities in Iraq are in grave jeopardy.