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Iraq’s Electoral Preparations and Processes Report No. 4 (10 December 2020)

Países
Iraq
Fuentes
UNAMI
Fecha de publicación

Highlights for November

  • The electoral legislation approved by Parliament becomes law.

  • The electoral budget is submitted for parliamentary approval.

  • Iraq requests the United Nations Security Council to provide UN observers at the June 2021 parliamentary elections.

  • IHEC and Ministry of Interior sign a cooperation agreement on voter registration.

Electoral Legislation

On 5 November, the President of Iraq ratified the Law for the Election of Iraq’s Council of Representatives (CoR Election Law No. 9 of 2020). The law came into effect on 9 November following publication in the official gazette. It makes provision for 329 parliamentary seats to be contested in the upcoming parliamentary elections, of which 25% (83 seats) are reserved for women, in line with constitutional provisions, and nine are reserved for minority representatives (5 Christians, 1 Yezidi, 1 Shabak, 1 Sabean Mandean and 1 Fayli Kurd). Each governorate will be divided into several constituencies, with a country-wide total of 83 constituencies. Each constituency will return 3-5 members of parliament, depending on its population density.
Now that the electoral law has come into force, IHEC is working on the necessary implementing regulations. A committee composed of several IHEC commissioners and IHEC legal staff is currently reviewing draft regulations prior to submission for approval by the Board of Commissioners. UNAMI is providing technical inputs to the committee. Regulations that have been drafted thus far include: a Regulation on the Registration and Certification of Candidates for the Election of Iraq’s Council of Representatives 2021; an Electoral Campaign Regulation; a Media Regulation; a Regulation on Electoral Complaints and Appeals; a Voter Registration Update Regulation; and a Regulation for the Accreditation of Agents of Candidates, Political Parties and Electoral Alliances.