September 25, 2008 in Nation/World

Iraqis pass long-delayed election law

Status of Kirkuk region among issues left unresolved

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BAGHDAD – Iraqi lawmakers Wednesday overcame months of infighting to pass a law setting the stage for provincial elections by early next year, an achievement sought by the United States to correct lopsided power structures blamed for sectarian violence.

Passage of the election bill has gained urgency as the U.S. seeks to reduce its troop presence in Iraq and as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki adopts a new assertiveness aimed at cementing his government’s sovereignty. Redrawing the political landscape is considered key to demonstrating that Iraq is ready to function as a democracy in which Shiite Muslims, Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Christians and others share power. Inequities resulted from many groups’ boycott of the last vote in 2005.

In Washington, President Bush lauded the approval.

“Nothing is more central to a functioning democracy than free and fair elections,” Bush said. “Today’s action demonstrates the ability of Iraq’s leaders to work together for the good of the Iraqi people and represents further progress on political reconciliation. ”

The law’s passage came with some major hurdles attached. One such issue involves the northern city of Kirkuk, which Kurdish leaders want as part of the semiautonomous Kurdistan region. The city’s Sunni Arab and Turkmen populations oppose the idea. All the groups had feared that holding provincial elections in Kirkuk would deny them the power they seek in the oil-rich city, so the decision was made to postpone voting there.

“In every great day there is a cloud,” Steffan de Mistura, the United Nations’ special representative, said of the postponement. “It is very dark. It is the issue of minorities. This is a sensitive issue.”

But the parliament speaker, Mahmoud Mashadani, said lawmakers’ ability to keep the Kirkuk dispute from derailing the bill should be lauded.

The law mandated that a parliamentary committee review the Kirkuk issue and by March make recommendations to resolve it. Elections also will be delayed in the three provinces that make up Kurdistan – Dahuk, Irbil, and Sulaymaniya – and in Kirkuk’s Tamim province.

Other significant aspects include guaranteeing women 25 percent of provincial council seats; banning the replacement of candidates’ pictures with those of ayatollahs or other religious leaders not associated with a party in the election; and replacing the closed-slate system with an open slate by having people vote for individuals rather than parties.

Despite the celebratory tone after the vote, there were grumblings.

Yonadim Kana, a Christian lawmaker from northern Iraq, called it a “big disappointment” that lawmakers had excluded Kurdish regions that are home to several religious minorities from the election.

“There is a trend to eradicate us from government jobs,” Kana said.

The new law must go before the country’s three-member presidency council for approval.

The elections could set the stage for bitter rivalries to erupt after months of relative calm. The most dangerous could be in the Shiite south, where al-Maliki’s ruling Dawa Party will vie for power against candidates backed by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sadr boycotted the 2005 vote but has said his political bloc will endorse candidates in this election, presenting al-Maliki with a formidable foe.

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