The Iraqi parliament passes controversial legislative changes

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By Webdesk


Move will increase the size of constituencies, a move widely supported by the country’s Iran-backed Coordination Framework Coalition.

Iraqi lawmakers have passed controversial amendments to the country’s electoral law that could undermine the chances for smaller parties and independent candidates to win seats in future polls.

The amendments increase the size of constituencies, a move widely supported by the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Iranian-backed parties. The coalition forms the majority bloc in the current parliament, which brought Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to power last year.

The bill passed by a 206 to 12 vote in the 329-seat assembly, according to media reports. The other MPs were absent from the hour-long session that started on Sunday evening.

The amendments also revert key articles passed ahead of the 2021 federal election and redraw election maps to return Iraq to one constituency per governorate.

Several Iraqi political blocs and independent parliamentarians had rejected the amendments and suspended voting for weeks. Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered in recent weeks to express their opposition.

Independent MPs who objected to the bill left an earlier session, causing it to be postponed due to a lack of quorum. They tried to delay the vote overnight by protesting and disrupting the count before Iraqi security forces escorted them out of the conference room.

Mahmoud Abdelwahed of Al Jazeera, reporting from Baghdad, said the vote is very important.

“It is a drastic change to the electoral law. Opponents say it gives influence to the major political parties at the expense of the smaller ones, especially those that emerged after the 2019 protests,” he said.

“People have taken to the streets, especially in the southern provinces where many are against government corruption. They say they will not let this law apply.”

Burning tires

Hundreds protested the new amendments in Baghdad on Saturday, while protesters in other parts of Iraq blocked roads with burning tires.

Iraq’s previous electoral law was passed after massive anti-government protests in 2019. That legislation gave independent candidates and grassroots movements a better chance of winning seats.

Its drafting and subsequent 2021 elections required technical assistance from the United Nations. The vote was hailed as a “substantial achievement” by Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the UN Special Representative for Iraq.

The outcome of those elections shocked the Coordinating Framework, which lost seats while its main political rival, the fiery Shiite religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr, was declared the clear winner.

The Al-Sadr political bloc gained 74 seats in the 2021 polls, while the Fatah coalition, made up of Iranian-backed parties, lost nearly half of its votes and more than two-thirds of its seats compared to the 2018 polls .

Despite emerging as a clear winner in the election, al-Sadr failed to secure the parliamentary majority needed to form the government. An alliance with Sunni and Kurdish parties fell apart after the religious leader, frustrated by months of political deadlock, ordered his MPs to resign in a sudden move that many observers said was a miscalculation.

The move allowed his political rivals in the coordination framework to garner the necessary parliamentary majority to form the government and appoint al-Sudani as prime minister.

Changing the electoral law and reversing the articles that effectively stripped the ruling coalition of voting emerged as a priority for the new government.

Iraq’s provincial elections are scheduled for November 6, the country’s first local elections in a decade. Independent candidates fear elections under the new law will strengthen ruling parties, which they accuse of rampant corruption. The Iraqi government has not yet scheduled the country’s next general election.



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