Politics of Iraq

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Politics of Iraq
Coat of arms of Iraq.svg

Arab League Member State of the Arab League

Constitution
Government
Legislature
Judiciary
Administrative divisions
Elections
Foreign relations
Flag of Iraq.svg Iraq portal
  • Other countries
  • v
  • t

The politics of Iraq take place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic. It is a multi-party system whereby the executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers as the head of government, as well as the President of Iraq, and legislative power is vested in the Council of Representatives and the .

The current Prime Minister of Iraq is Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, who holds most of the executive authority and appointed the Council of Ministers, which acts as a cabinet and/or government.

The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Iraq an "authoritarian regime" in 2019.[1][needs update]

Government[]

Federal government[]

Main article: Federal government of Iraq
Council of Representatives of Iraq

The federal government of Iraq is defined under the current constitution as an Islamic,[2] democratic, federal parliamentary republic.[3] The federal government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as well as numerous independent commissions.

The legislative branch is composed of the Council of Representatives and a .[4] The executive branch is composed of the president, the prime minister, and the Council of Ministers.[5] The federal judiciary is composed of the , the Supreme Court, the , the , the , and other federal courts that are regulated by law.[6] One such court is the Central Criminal Court.

The , the Independent High Electoral Commission, and the Commission on Integrity are independent commissions subject to monitoring by the Council of Representatives.[7] The Central Bank of Iraq, the , the Communications and Media Commission, and the are financially and administratively independent institutions.[8] The is attached to the Council of Ministers.[9] The regulates the affairs of the federal public service, including appointment and promotion.[10]

Local government[]

The basic subdivisions of the country are the regions and the governorates. Both regions and governorates are given broad autonomy with regions given additional powers such as control of internal security forces for the region such as police, security forces, and guards.[11] The last local elections for the governorates were held in the 2009 Iraqi governorate elections on 31 January 2009.

Regions[]

Main article: regions of Iraq

The constitution requires that the Council of Representatives enact a law which provides the procedures for forming a new region 6 months from the start of its first session.[12] A law was passed 11 October 2006 by a unanimous vote with only 138 of 275 representatives present, with the remaining representatives boycotting the vote.[13][14] Legislators from the Iraqi Accord Front, Sadrist Movement and Islamic Virtue Party all opposed the bill.[15]

Under the law, a region can be created out of one or more existing governorates or two or more existing regions, and a governorate can also join an existing region to create a new region. A new region can be proposed by one third or more of the council members in each affected governorate plus 500 voters or by one tenth or more voters in each affected governorate. A referendum must then be held within three months, which requires a simple majority in favour to pass. In the event of competing proposals, the multiple proposals are put to a ballot and the proposal with the most supporters is put to the referendum. In the event of an affirmative referendum a Transitional Legislative Assembly is elected for one year, which has the task of writing a constitution for the Region, which is then put to a referendum requiring a simple majority to pass. The President, Prime Minister and Ministers of the region are elected by simple majority, in contrast to the Iraqi Council of Representatives which requires two thirds support.[14]

Provinces[]

Main articles: governorates of Iraq and districts of Iraq
See also: Government of Baghdad
Iraqi Governorates

Iraq is divided into 19 governorates, which are further divided into districts:

  1. Baghdād (بغداد)
  2. Salāh ad-Dīn (صلاح الدين)
  3. Diyālā (ديالى)
  4. Wāsit (واسط)
  5. Maysān (ميسان)
  6. Al-Basrah (البصرة)
  7. Dhī Qār (ذي قار)
  8. Al-Muthannā (المثنى)
  9. Al-Qādisiyyah (القادسية)
  10. Bābil (بابل)
  11. Karbalā' (كربلاء)
  12. Al-Najaf (النجف)
  13. Al-Anbar (الأنبار)
  14. Nīnawā (نينوى)
  15. Dahūk (دهوك)
  16. Arbīl (أربيل)
  17. Kirkuk (or At-Ta'mim) (كركوك)
  18. As-Sulaymāniyyah (السليمانية)
  19. Halabja (حلبجة‎)

Political parties[]

Parliamentary alliances and parties[]

Other parties[]

Illegal parties[]

Elections[]

Main article: Elections in Iraq

Iraqi parliamentary election, January 2005[]

Main article: January 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election
Iraqi police officers hold up their index fingers marked with purple indelible ink, a security measure to prevent double voting.

Elections for the National Assembly of Iraq were held on January 30, 2005 in Iraq. The 275-member National Assembly was a parliament created under the Transitional Law during the Occupation of Iraq. The newly elected transitional Assembly was given a mandate to write the new and permanent Constitution of Iraq and exercised legislative functions until the new Constitution came into effect, and resulted in the formation of the Iraqi Transitional Government.

The United Iraqi Alliance, tacitly backed by Shia Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, led with some 48% of the vote. The Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan was in second place with some 26% of the vote. Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's party, the Iraqi List, came third with some 14%. In total, twelve parties received enough votes to win a seat in the assembly.

Low Arab Sunni turnout threatened the legitimacy of the election, which was as low as 2% in Anbar province. More than 100 armed attacks on polling places took place, killing at least 44 people (including nine suicide bombers) across Iraq, including at least 20 in Baghdad.

Iraqi parliamentary election, December 2005[]

Main article: December 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election
Iraqis in the predominantly Sunni city of Husaybah, wait in lines to vote during the national election.

Following the ratification of the Constitution of Iraq on 15 October 2005, a general election was held on 15 December to elect the permanent 275-member Iraqi Council of Representatives.

The elections took place under a list system, whereby voters chose from a list of parties and coalitions. 230 seats were apportioned among Iraq's 18 governorates based on the number of registered voters in each as of the January 2005 elections, including 59 seats for Baghdad Governorate.[16] The seats within each governorate were allocated to lists through a system of Proportional Representation. An additional 45 "compensatory" seats were allocated to those parties whose percentage of the national vote total (including out of country votes) exceeds the percentage of the 275 total seats that they have been allocated. Women were required to occupy 25% of the 275 seats.[17] The change in the voting system gave more weight to Arab Sunni voters, who make up most of the voters in several provinces. It was expected that these provinces would thus return mostly Sunni Arab representatives, after most Sunnis boycotted the last election.

Turnout was high (79.6%). The White House was encouraged by the relatively low levels of violence during polling,[18] with one insurgent group making good on a promised election day moratorium on attacks, even going so far as to guard the voters from attack.[19] President Bush frequently pointed to the election as a sign of progress in rebuilding Iraq. However, post-election violence threatened to plunge the nation into civil war, before the situation began to calm in 2007. The election results themselves produced a shaky coalition government headed by Nouri al-Maliki.

Iraqi parliamentary election, 2010[]

Main article: 2010 Iraqi parliamentary election

A parliamentary election was held in Iraq on 7 March 2010. The election decided the 325 members of the Council of Representatives of Iraq who will elect the Iraqi Prime Minister and President. The election resulted in a partial victory for the Iraqi National Movement, led by former Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which won a total of 91 seats, making it the largest alliance in the council. The State of Law Coalition, led by incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, was the second largest grouping with 89 seats.

The election was rife with controversy.[20] Prior to the election, the Supreme Court in Iraq ruled that the existing electoral law/rule was unconstitutional,[21] and a new elections law made changes in the electoral system.[22] On 15 January 2010, the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) banned 499 candidates from the election due to alleged links with the Ba'ath Party.[23] Before the start of the campaign on 12 February 2010, IHEC confirmed that most of the appeals by banned candidates had been rejected and 456 of the initially banned candidates would not be allowed to run for the election.[24] There were numerous allegations of fraud,[25][26] and a recount of the votes in Baghdad was ordered on 19 April 2010.[27] On May 14, IHEC announced that after 11,298 ballot boxes had been recounted, there was no sign of fraud or violations.[citation needed]

The new parliament opened on 14 June 2010.[28] After months of fraught negotiations, an agreement was reached on the formation of a new government on November 11.[29] Talabani would continue as president, Al-Maliki would stay on as prime minister and Allawi would head a new security council.

Iraqi parliamentary election, 2014[]

Main article: 2014 Iraqi parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 30 April 2014. The elections decided the 328 members of the Council of Representatives who will in turn elect the Iraqi President and Prime Minister.

Issues[]

Corruption[]

Main article: Corruption in Iraq

According to Transparency International, Iraq's is the most corrupt government in the Middle East, and is described as a "hybrid regime" (between a "flawed democracy" and an "authoritarian regime").[30] The 2011 report "Costs of War" from Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies concluded that U.S. military presence in Iraq has not been able to prevent this corruption, noting that as early as 2006, "there were clear signs that post-Saddam Iraq was not going to be the linchpin for a new democratic Middle East."[31]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ The Economist Intelligence Unit (8 January 2019). "Democracy Index 2019". Economist Intelligence Unit. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  2. ^ Constitution of Iraq, Section 1, Article 2
  3. ^ Constitution of Iraq, Section 1, Article 1
  4. ^ Constitution of Iraq, Section 3, Chapter 1, Article 48.
  5. ^ Constitution of Iraq, Section 3, Chapter 2, Article 63
  6. ^ Constitution of Iraq, Section 3, Chapter 3, Article 89
  7. ^ Constitution of Iraq, Section 3, Chapter 4, Article 102
  8. ^ Constitution of Iraq, Section 3, Chapter 4, Article 103
  9. ^ Constitution of Iraq, Section 3, Chapter 4, Article 104
  10. ^ Constitution of Iraq, Section 3, Chapter 4, Article 107
  11. ^ Constitution of Iraq, Article 121
  12. ^ Constitution of Iraq, Article 114
  13. ^ Muir, Jim (2006-10-11), Iraq passes regional autonomy law, Baghdad: BBC News, retrieved 2008-11-09
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Draft of the Law on the Operational Procedures for the Creation of Regions, archived from the original on 2009-03-01, retrieved 2008-11-09
  15. ^ Iraqi parliament approves federal law, Reuters, 2006-10-11, retrieved 2008-04-18[dead link]
  16. ^ local election results Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ "Guide to Iraq's election". BBC News. 2005-12-13. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  18. ^ Steele, Jonathan (2005-12-16). "Iraqis flock to polls as insurgents urge Sunnis to vote". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  19. ^ Knickmeyer, Ellen; Finer, Jonathan (2005-12-16). "Iraqi Vote Draws Big Turnout Of Sunnis". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  20. ^ "Iraq Recount Mired in a New Dispute", The New York Times, 3 May 2010
  21. ^ Visser, Reidar (24 November 2009). "The 2005 Election Law Seen as Unconstitutional; Seat Distribution Key in Doubt". Iraq and Gulf Analysis.
  22. ^ Chon, Gina. "Iraq Passes Key Election Law and Prepares for January Vote". The Wall Street Journal.
  23. ^ Iraqi election commission bans 500 candidates, BBC News, 15 January 2010
  24. ^ Iraq election officials confirm Sunni candidate ban, Reuters, 13 February 2010
  25. ^ Chulov, Martin (16 March 2010), "Iraqi elections hit with claims of fraud by opposing parties", The Guardian
  26. ^ Iraq poll results delayed again, amid mounting fraud claims, Earth Times, 15 March 2010
  27. ^ Baghdad recount throws Iraq election wide open, Agence France Presse, 19 April 2010
  28. ^ "Iraq merger forms big Shia bloc". BBC News. 11 June 2010.
  29. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/11/10/world/middleeast/AP-ML-Iraq-Politics.html[permanent dead link]
  30. ^ "Did the wars bring democracy to Afghanistan and Iraq?". Costs of War. Brown University. Archived from the original on 3 July 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
  31. ^ Balaghi, Shiva. "The War on Terror and Middle East Policy Analysis" (PDF). Costs of War. Brown University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2011.

Further reading[]

External links[]

Retrieved from ""