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August 01, 2005
This makes a lot of sense
As far as proportional representation goes, it makes much more sense to have provincial allotments, as opposed to a national free for all. I believe several states here in the US, Illinois for one, already use a similar method for electing their state legislatures. It also has the side benefit of being much more immune to vote fraud. Coincidentally, that is one of the main arguments used to support keeping the electoral college here in the United States.
The Sunday news cycle took a roller coaster ride with regard to whether the constitution drafting committee of the Iraqi parliament will be finished by August 15. It must request a postponement by today if it is going to seek one. First, committee chair Humam al-Hamoudi said they might ask for a one-month delay rather than the 6-month delay that is permitted by the Transitional Administrative Law (interim constitution). That seems to have sent President Jalal Talabani ballistic, and he intervened to say that there must be no postponement. He differed in that stance from his Kurdish colleagues on the committee, many of whom were reportedly seeking a six-month postponement. Finally, it was announced that the committee would meet the Aug. 15 deadline for most of the constitution, but might continue working on some particularly contentious articles. I'm not sure that move would be constitutional (I should have thought Aug. 15 was an all or nothing affair). But now that parliament is elected and sovereign, I suppose it may do as it pleases.On Sunday, LBC reports that Sunni Arab parliamentarians made a push to have the next elections by 18 electoral districts, instead of having Iraq just one district. The latter system, used on Jan. 30, allowed Sunni Arabs to be virtually excluded from parliament. In a district-based system, Anbar would probably get 11 or so seats, and they would be filled by Sunnis, even if the turnout of the voters was light. In a system where all Iraq is the electoral district, nobody might represent Anbar. Al-Hayat says that the change to provincial voting districts was sought by the Shiites of the United Iraqi Alliance.
The Sunnis and/or Shiites did not get their debate, because the Kurdish Alliance and the Iraqiyah list of Iyad Allawi boycotted the session, depriving it of a quorum. They insisted that such a serious debate needed to be announced at least a couple of days beforehand so that all parties could prepare for it, not just sprung suddenly. In a district-based election, Allawi's list very likely would be reduced to 2-4 delegates, since it gets votes only from the small Baghdad and Basra middle class. On Jan. 30, the Iraqiyah garnered 14 percent. The Kurds would also see their 75 parliamentary delegates somewhat reduced. They would get elected primarily from 6 provinces, which would presumably have about 90 seats out of 275. But Kurds would be assured of dominating the delegations of only three of them, while the other three are mixed.
Posted by Mike at August 1, 2005 06:45 PM
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