Election to the Council of Representatives in Iraq 2010

The Iraqi general election in 2010 was the second election to the Iraqi Council of Representatives since the adoption of the 2005 Constitution . They took place on March 7, 2010 against the background of the end of the engagement of the multinational force in Iraq and were overshadowed by numerous explosive attacks beforehand.

The Iraqi National Alliance (al-Irakija) of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi won 91 seats, while the rule of law coalition of Nuri al-Maliki won 89 seats. After the elections, both Allawi and al-Maliki claimed the post of prime minister. However, since neither of the two had won a majority in parliament, the formation of a government was delayed by several months.

The stalemate did not end until eight months after the elections, when the parties agreed on the formation of a new unity government with al-Maliki as prime minister. On November 11, 2010, the Kurd Jalal Talabani was confirmed as president and Usama an-Nujaifi was elected by al-Iraqiya as the new speaker of parliament. On December 21, 2010, al-Maliki was finally confirmed as prime minister by parliament and sworn in with his cabinet of 42 ministers.

Verification of names when voting

background

After the fall of Saddam Hussein in the Iraq war of 2003, the country was first ruled by a coalition led by the United States managed . In June 2004 a transitional government under Ghazi al-Yawar was set up to prepare the first free elections in Iraq. The January 30, 2005 elections led to the formation of a transitional parliament to draft the country's new constitution.

On December 15, 2005, parliamentary elections under the new constitution were held for the first time. The United Iraqi Alliance emerged as the strongest faction , and the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan became the second strongest . Nuri al-Maliki , who formed a unity government with the participation of Sunni , Shiite and Kurdish parties, was elected prime minister .

The electoral law has been fundamentally changed for the next parliamentary elections . The most important change was the introduction of open electoral lists so that voters can have more influence on the composition of the new parliament. In addition, the number of parliamentary seats to be allocated has been increased from 275 to 325. A dispute over the electoral process in Kirkuk governorate and the influence of Iraqis living abroad delayed the adoption of the electoral law, which was finally passed on December 6, 2009.

The late adoption of the new electoral law meant that the ballot originally planned for January 18, 2010 had to be postponed because the Independent Electoral Commission no longer had sufficient time to prepare for the parliamentary elections. A total of 18.9 million voters were registered for the parliamentary elections.

Candidates

Iyad Allawi at an election rally

More than 6000 candidates applied for the 325 mandates . Around a quarter of the candidates were women.

Almost 300 parties and groups competed in party alliances. The predominantly Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, which received 41% of the vote in December 2005, is now divided. While the Supreme Islamic Council and the group led by Muqtada al-Sadr , a new National Iraqi Alliance (Iraqi National Alliance) have formed, has the Islamic Dawa Party of Prime Minister al-Maliki, a new coalition of law (The State of Law Coalition) educated. The Shiite interior minister Jawad al-Bulani , in turn, ran as the United Iraqi Alliance .

The electoral alliance concluded in 2005 has also collapsed among the Sunni parties. The most important Sunni parties have joined the secular Iraqi national movement (al-Irakija), which, in addition to the party of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi , a Shiite, also belongs to the renewal party of Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi . The neo-Baathist Salih al-Mutlak , who also co-founded the Iraqi national movement, was excluded from the parliamentary election along with more than 400 other candidates.

The two leading Kurdish parties PUK and DKP strove to form a single list for the parliamentary elections and renewed the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan . The Kurdish party Rewtî Gorran , founded by Navschirwan Mustafa , announced that it would compete with the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan.

course

The elections began on March 4th. Around 800,000 doctors, nurses, police officers and soldiers were able to vote on that day. Iraqis abroad were able to cast their votes between March 5th and 7th. In Germany there were polling stations in Munich, Berlin, Mannheim and Cologne. The Iraqi electoral law does not provide for postal voting.

On election day there were several attacks in which at least 38 people died. Despite these attacks, according to official figures, a turnout of 62% was achieved. After three of the twelve million votes cast had been counted on March 14, 2010, the al-Maliki alliance led in seven of the 18 provinces. The second strongest force at that time was the Iraqi list of Iyad Allawi, which was able to unite the most votes in five provinces.

Official end result

The interdenominational alliance Irakija of the previous opposition leader Iyad Allawi came to 91 seats according to the preliminary official final result. The rule of law coalition of Nuri al-Maliki won 89 seats, while the United Iraqi Alliance of Ammar al-Hakim and Muktada al-Sadr won 70 seats. The Kurdish Alliance landed in fourth place with 42 MPs. Rewtî Gorran received eight seats.

On April 19, 2010, the Independent Electoral Commission announced a recount of the votes in Baghdad. Furthermore, 52 applicants were subsequently disqualified because they were accused of having ties to the Baath Party. However, the recount did not change the distribution of seats in parliament.

In May, the rule of law coalition and the Iraqi National Alliance formed a parliamentary bloc. Together, the two alliances had 159 seats, but 163 were necessary for an absolute majority. The Kurdish parties also agreed on a merger.

The result of the elections was confirmed by the country's highest court on June 1, 2010. The coalition negotiations could now begin.

Allocation of seats and voting shares

91

89

70

43

8th

16

8th

91 89 70 43 8th 16 8th 

A total of 325 seats

• Iraqi National Movement Irakija : 91
• Rule of Law Coalition : 89
• Iraqi National Alliance : 70
• Kurdistan list : 43
• Rewtî Gorran : 8
• Otherwise: 16
• Minorities : 8

Political party	Seats	%
Iraqi national movement Irakija	91	24.72
Rule of Law Coalition	89	24.22
Iraqi National Alliance	70	18.15
Kurdistan list	43	14.59
Rewtî Gorran	8th	4.13
Iraqi unity (Tawafuq)	6th	2.59
Iraqi unity	4th	2.66
Islamic Union Kurdistan	4th	2.12
Islamic community in Kurdistan	2	1.32
Minorities ( Christians , Mandaeans , Yazidis , Shabak )	8th	0.53

Mandate distribution

Governorate ( muhafazat )	Seats
Baghdad (بغداد)	68
Ninawa (نينوى)	32
Basra (البصرة)	24
Dhi Qar (ذي قار)	18th
as-Sulaimaniya (السليمانية)	17th
Bable (بابل)	16
al-Anbar (الأنبار)	14th
Erbil (أربيل)	14th
Diyala (ديالى)	13
Najaf (النجف)	12
Kirkuk (كركوك)	12
Salah ad-Din (صلاح الدين)	12
al-Qadisiya (القادسية)	11
al-Wasit (واسط)	11
Dahuk (دهوك)	10
Karbala (كربلاء)	10
Maisan (ميسان)	10
Compensation seats (minorities)	8th
Compensation seats	7th
al-Muthanna (المثنى)	7th
Total:	325

Government formation

Since none of the political camps had a majority, forming a government proved to be a lengthy process. It was not until November that the four largest political groups were able to agree on the power-sharing. Al-Maliki was to continue to lead the office of prime minister, and the Kurd Talabani was confirmed as president. Allawis al-Irakija should provide the speaker of parliament, he himself would receive the position in the newly created National Council for Strategic Policy .

On November 11, 2010, Osama al-Nudschaifi was elected as the new President of Parliament, and Talabani was re-elected as President on the same day. The formation of the government was completed on December 21, 2010 with the confirmation of al-Maliki as Prime Minister by the Council of Representatives. al-Maliki's cabinet has 42 ministers, including eleven representatives from al-Irakija and seven ministers from the Kurdish Alliance. The previous oil minister, Husain al-Shahristani , became deputy head of government . The "Government of National Partnership" has a total of 293 of the 325 MPs.

Web links

• Website of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (English)
• Website of the Iraqi parliament (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Spiegel Online : Referendum against Terror , December 15, 2005.
2. ↑ Tagesschau : Iraqi Parliament passes electoral law ( memento of November 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) , November 8, 2009.
3. ↑ Tagesschau : Dispute over election law in Iraq settled ( memento of December 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) , December 6, 2009.
4. ↑ ABC News : Iraq Sets Parliamentary Elections for March 7 , December 8, 2009.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Die Welt : How Iraq's Democracy Learns to Walk , March 4, 2010.
6. ^ ^{A b} Deutsche Welle : New Elections, New Alliances in Iraq , March 2, 2010.
7. ^ Al Jazeera : Iraq's most powerful coalitions , March 4, 2010.
8. ↑ Tagesschau : The greatest danger - in the wrong place at the wrong time ( Memento from March 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
9. ^ WirtschaftsWoche: Election decides on Iraqi oil , March 5, 2010
10. ↑ Focus : Election in exile
11. ↑ Focus : Al-Maliki in the lead in Iraqi elections - 62 percent turnout , March 8, 2010
12. ^ Sueddeutsche.de : Vorsprung für al-Maliki , March 15, 2010
13. ↑ Close victory for the opposition in Iraq  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Süddeutsche Zeitung from March 26, 2010  
14. ^ Opposition narrowly wins parliamentary election in Iraq Spiegel Online on March 26, 2010
15. ^ Die Welt: Ballot papers from Baghdad will be counted again from April 19, 2010
16. ↑ Reuters Germany: Numerous voices in Iraq invalid - New violence threatens April 27, 2010
17. ↑ Focus: Re-counting does not change the distribution of seats from May 16, 2010
18. ↑ Die Welt: Maliki reaches an agreement with Shiite alliance on May 5, 2010
19. ↑ Kurdish Globe: President Barzani announces Coalition of Kurdistan Lists ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , dated May 12, 2010 
20. ↑ Deutsche Welle: Supreme Court in Iraq confirms the election result  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from June 1, 2010  
21. ^ Deutsche Welle: Iraqis agree on new government , November 11, 2010.
22. ↑ Der Spiegel: MPs clear the way for a new government , November 11, 2010.
23. ↑ Die Welt : Al-Maliki and his 42 ministers sworn in in Iraq , December 21, 2010.
24. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung : Nine months later , December 21, 2010.