Iraq: New Election law disadvantages minorities – Quota system called for

September 30th, 2008

SOCIETY FOR THREATENED PEOPLES
PRESS RELEASE Göttingen,

Iraq:

“The new election system disadvantages above all the religious communities of the Assyrian Chaldean Arameans, Yezidi, Shabak, Feili-Kurds, Mandaeans and Armenians, criticised the President of the GfbV International, Tilman Zülch, in a letter to the Iraqi President, Jalal Talabani, and the President of the autonomous federal state of Kurdistan, Masud Barzani. “To make sure that the minorities are represented fairly, quotas must be established for them where their numbers are high. It is only in this way that they can be present in all important bodies independently of the election results.”

It was only after very lively discussion that the new electoral law was passed in the Iraqi Parliament on 24th September 2008. The plan is now for elections to be carried out in 14 of the 18 Iraqi provinces by the end of January 2009. The exceptions are the three provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan (Arbil, Dohuk and Sulaymaniye) and the province of Kirkuk, whose administrative affiliation is debated between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish autonomous region in the north.

The provincial elections planned are seen as an important step on the road to stabilising Iraq and are to take place under the supervision of the United Nations.

Although all the larger parties have voted for the law there is still criticism to be heard., coming mainly from the Kurdish side. Dr. Kamal Kukuki, Vice-President of the Regional Parliament of Kurdistan and member of the advisory board of the GfbV Section there, holds the law to be undemocratic because it does not allow the citizens of Kirkuk for example to decide at the same time as in the other provinces who will represent them on the Provincial Council. “The new law has come about under massive pressure from the USA and the United Nations”, said a GfbV employee in Arbil.

The GfbV is calling for a quota solution for Iraqi Kurdistan as well to be introduced in the constitution – yet to be passed - of the autonomous federal state in the north of the country. In addition to this self-government must be established for those communities which differ from other Kurdish provinces in terms of ethnic background or religious affiliation.

Al Sadr supports quotas for minorities

September 30th, 2008

(AP)

BAGHDAD - Anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr strongly supports demands by Iraqi Christians and other minorities for guaranteed seats on regional governing councils, his chief spokesman said Tuesday.

Al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia battled U.S. and Iraqi forces until he declared a cease-fire last year, would also be ready to mobilize street protests to support the minorities’ cause, spokesman Salah al-Obeidi said.

Iraq’s parliament approved a new law last week that paves the way for the first provincial elections in four years, a move widely praised as a sign of progress in the U.S.-backed government’s efforts to promote national unity.

But the law removed a measure that reserved a few provincial council seats for Christians and other religious minorities - sparking outrage among the Christians and Yazidis, a small Kurdish-speaking sect, who argued they should have a voice in the mostly Muslim country.

The measure still needs to be approved by the three-member presidential panel led by Jalal Talabani, a Kurd.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, also has asked lawmakers to restore the quotas - an appeal that gained momentum Tuesday as both Sunni and Shiite leaders gave their backing to the minorities.

The Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party called on parliament to restore the quotas, arguing that “all Iraqis must enjoy all their civil and political rights without exception.”
“We have to achieve unity among all Iraqis for the sake of a prosperous and unified Iraq,” it said.

Safiya al-Suhail, a female Shiite lawmaker whose father was assassinated by Saddam Hussein’s agents in Beirut in the 1990s, called on Talabani to reject the law as it stands now.
“Ignoring the rights of the minorities in the provincial elections law is a disaster for the democracy of Iraq,” she said. “We should work to make a legal adjustment as soon as parliament resumes its sessions.”

Talabani vetoed a previous version of the law due to a Kurdish-Arab dispute over power-sharing issues in the oil-rich area of Kirkuk. That issue was set aside to obtain consensus on the current law amid heavy U.S. pressure.

Thousands of Christians protested Sunday to demand the safeguards be put back into law, some expressing fear that the erosion of their rights was an attempt to force them to flee the country.

“We strongly support the minorities in claiming their rights in the provincial elections law,” al-Sadr’s spokesman, al-Obeidi, told The Associated Press.
“According to Muqtada al-Sadr’s latest instructions, we are ready to support them if they ask for support. We can stage a huge demonstration if they want,” said al-Obeidi.