Iraq’s parliament shows high turnover in its 4th iteration
There are 215 new MPs out of the 329 seats of Iraq’s parliament, reported the Iraqi Parliament Monitor which is part of the Madarik Institute.
There are 114 MPs returning to Baghdad for their second, third or fourth term.
Just 13 were reelected for the fourth time, thus serving in Iraq’s Council of Representatives since 2005, when the post-Saddam government was formed.
There are 32 MPs serving a third term, while 69 MPs have been chosen twice.
Political parties through lists choose their candidates with a 25 percent quota system for women. Minority groups are allotted nine seats. A seat for Fayli Kurds was added for the 2018 parliament, increasing the number of seats to 329.
Prior to elections, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest religious authority for the Shiites in Iraq advised his countrymen not to choose those who have already been tried.
The winning Sayirun coalition was comprised of Sadrists and the Communist Party of Iraq. They fielded new candidates and didn’t allow any of their MPs from previous elections to run again.
Outspoken Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr prevailed in Iraq’s parliamentary election on May 12. He appealed to Iraq’s poor and disenfranchised and won the most-populated province, the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.
Voter turnout was 44.5 percent — the lowest in the post-Saddam era.