The new electoral system, signed into law by President Barham Salih last November, expanded the number of constituencies from 18 to 83, the number of quota seats for women, meaning every voting district will send at least one woman to the parliament. Another change is that voters vote just for an individual candidate, they do not vote for a party, as had previously been the case.
Smaller voting districts could result in better regional representation in parliament and allow voters to be more familiar with their MPs, according to the former head of Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).
“The people are familiar with the candidate, meaning the candidate is someone from their own district. They can choose their own candidate. The candidate will have good relations with the voter,” Sarbast Mustafa told Rudaw English on Sunday.
Iraq’s electoral system was built after the US invasion of 2003 and it divided power among Iraq’s religious and ethnic groups. The December 2005 election was contested by 230 parties and 21 coalitions, all vying for seats in the first full-term, four-year parliament since the fall of the Baath regime. The election was carried out on the basis of national party lists and the whole country was treated as a single electoral district, where voters voted for parties, rather than individuals. Parliamentary seats were then allocated in proportion to parties’ shares of votes, and the parties made the decision about what people actually sat in the legislature.
Amendments to the election law divided the country into constituencies based on the 18 governorates for the 2010 election. Each province became one electoral constituency, allotted a number of seats proportional to its estimated population. Voters selected both a political entity and their preferred candidate. Seats were awarded based on each party’s share of the votes and parties had some leeway in moving votes around among their candidates.
An overhaul of the system was one of the demands made by protesters who took to Iraq's streets beginning in October 2019 and forced the resignation of former Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi. But how the new system works is not universally clear.
“This system is more complicated as it is new and how the system works hasn’t been explained to the people,” Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) candidate in Sulaimani Ashwaq Najmaddin Jaff told Rudaw English on Monday.
Iraq’s Sadrist movement, led by influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, launched a mobile application called Altayar to aid their supporters navigate the new system and provide information about their voting districts and candidates. The app gives user-specific information on the correct polling station to go to, what required documents to bring, and the name of the Sadrist candidate in their constituency.
Other parties and the electoral commission have lagged behind in providing similar, detailed assistance.
A fairer electoral system was a demand of protesters, but they will likely be one of the main groups to lose out under the new system, according to Mustafa.
“The protesters' voices are widespread, their voices are everywhere. When the circle [voting district] gets smaller, their voices are divided, meaning they can’t reach the percentage needed to win seats,” he said.
Established parties with strong bases, tribal ties, and known faces could have the edge over parties aligned with the protest movement.
On July 8, the IHEC approved the final list of candidates eligible to contest the elections. There are a total of 3,249 candidates, including 951 women, competing for 329 seats.
Nine seats are reserved by minorities and there are 67 candidates vying for these spots. Christians get five seats while Yazidis, Shabaks, Faili Kurds, and Sabeans each get one. These spots are not limited to voting districts and ballots can be cast for them around the country.
