Mazen Al-Zaidi
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On December 18, Iraq held its first provincial council elections after ten years of unconstitutional obstruction.
The government of Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani succeeded in holding local elections despite the internal political rivalries and disputes, some of which the leaders wanted to obstruct or postpone for narrow reasons.
The government of Mr. Sudan has fulfilled its pledge to hold elections in compliance with the government program and platform voted on by the Iraqi Council of Representatives, and in light of it, the current government gained the confidence of the people’s representatives on October 27, 2022. The importance of the elections lies in reviving a constitutional principle that stipulates the right of citizens in the governorates to choose Their local government as part of the principle of the people’s authority to determine their political choices.
The revival of provincial councils represents the clearest form of direct democracy, given the close connection between these local councils and the interests of citizens in their cities, neighborhoods, and places of residence. The revival of the provincial council elections can also be considered as a message of confidence to citizens about the importance of their participation in electing their representatives and determining their fate at the local level after ten years of the absence of popular will in local government.
In addition to what was mentioned, the holding of the provincial council elections brought with it important variables, represented by the holding of the second local elections in Kirkuk Governorate, the dispute between its components led to the disruption of this popular and constitutional entitlement since 2005.
Disagreements over the weights of the governorate’s components, especially the repeated Kurdish claims, caused the people of Kirkuk to be deprived of self-determination while their brothers in other governorates elected their councils during the 2009 and 2013 elections.
The Sudanese government’s insistence on holding Kirkuk Provincial Council elections reflects the Prime Minister’s commitment to guaranteeing the right of the people of Kirkuk to self-determination, and also confirms its determination and even its success in dismantling the battle of ethnic weights in this multi-ethnic and multi-national province.
During these elections, we did not witness the national polarization that we are accustomed to seeing in any other elections.
The division and competition between the two major Kurdish parties played a role in convincing the Kurdish component in Kirkuk of its true weight, away from its previous demands to link the holding of elections to the Article 140 file and adherence to the slogan of “Kirkuk Kurdistan.”
It is also possible to point to the atmosphere of “electoral security” witnessed in the recent elections as an element of strength in consolidating and consolidating the security and political stability that Iraq is witnessing under the Sudanese government. Despite the boycott of the Sadrist movement and its attempts to obstruct or cancel the local elections, the security and technical measures taken by the government prevented the emergence of security breaches that would disturb the election atmosphere on the special and general voting days. It can be said that the Sudanese government succeeded in restoring the prestige of the state and the prestige of the security services, and that the Sudanese succeeded, within a year of his term, in imposing himself as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. This was clearly reflected in the security preparations that preceded the local elections, which contributed to them being the first of their kind in terms of maintaining security and the absence of security violations since 2018. The governorates that were the scene of ISIS and terrorist organizations or the mixed governorates did not record any terrorist activity. He usually revealed himself through operations targeting candidates or electoral centers.
The recent provincial council elections were also characterized by strict and resolute measures to prevent fraud or theft of the will of voters. The recent elections can be considered the first of their kind in Iraq that did not witness any challenge to their integrity or questioning of their results. Today, more than a week after the elections were held, the High Commission has not registered any appeals against the results of any electoral center.
This is due to governmental and parliamentary measures that limited the fraud and vote-buying operations that were widely witnessed in the past elections. The Election Commission has been distanced from political influences, and the Election Law has been amended to determine participation rates and limit them to biometric card holders only. This prevented the phenomenon of buying blind cards approved in previous elections, which was popular in recent years. This limitation contributed to limiting the right to vote to only 17 million Iraqis out of 27 million, who have reached the age of eighteen and are entitled to vote and participate.
Restricting the election to holders of electronic cards was a smart and responsible step at the same time to end a hot bazaar that flourished during the electoral seasons for trading in blind cards in order to manipulate the electoral weights and falsify the will of the voters.
The adoption of the smart biometric card has contributed to protecting the will of voters and providing real weights to the political forces competing in local elections. This explains the lack of challenge and skepticism about the results, which is happening for the first time in Iraq.
Hence, the participation rate in the local elections, which is estimated between 41-45%, is a very good percentage, and reflects high participation in the elections, contrary to what is promoted about the presence of a wide boycott. It is true, according to data and statistics, that the boycott was limited to the audience of only one political movement, which itself chose the boycott for its own interests.
The high participation rate was calculated out of the total number of smart card holders, as stipulated in the electoral law, and not out of the number of adults aged eighteen years and over. In general, the holding of local elections reflected a clear success of Mr. Sudan’s government in adhering to its legal obligations, its commitment to strengthening constitutional life, and its insistence on reviving a constitutional principle that enshrines political participation at the local level. It is also credited to Mr. Sudanese government that it held safe elections without significant violations.
The current government is credited with holding elections that were the most fair and free from questioning their results.
The political stability that the Sudanese government restored more than a year ago, and the Iraqis have begun to see its fruits in the form of the return of democratic life in the political field, and the acceleration of the reconstruction and construction movement in the services field.
