Iraq elections: a tale of big money and ugly politics

Iraq elections: a tale of big money and ugly politics

by: Susan Webb

People's World

April 7 2010

Many Iraqis had hoped that the March 7 elections would advance a united national consensus to build a sovereign and democratic Iraq, free of foreign occupation.

But it appears that struggle has a ways to go.

In fact, the election campaign revived the sectarian polarization that fueled bloody

Announced results gave former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's slate a thin lead over the slate of current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. With Allawi's slate getting 91 seats to Maliki's 89 in the new 325-seat Parliament, both are far from being able to form a new government and will have to win support from others. That is expected to be a protracted process. The vote tallies continue to be disputed as well.

Allawi's slate included splinter groups from the former Sunni Islamic Accord, some tribal groups and former Baathists. Allawi, a secular Shiite and former Baathist, presented himself as representing all of Iraq's Sunni population, while using code language appealing to Baath supporters. (Sunnis make up about 20 percent of Iraq's population, Shiites about 60 percent, Kurds 20 percent, with other small religious/ethnic groups.) At the same time he campaigned as a secularist, appealing to the wide Iraqi disillusionment with religious-based parties, and he drew votes on this basis.

Maliki's slate, which campaigned on a secular platform and won big in last year's provincial elections, included his own Shiite Islamic Dawa party as well as other Shiites and a number of independent and Sunni figures and tribal leaders.

Some believe Allawi, who has a reputed history of CIA connections, is considered by at least some U.S. circles to be a more cooperative "partner" than Maliki. Maliki has struck an independent nationalist stance on issues related to the U.S. troop pullout and Iraq's oil. Some Iraqis see Allawi's slate as serving U.S. interest in countering Iran's influence in the area.

Coming in third with 70 seats was a Shiite Islamic slate that included the Islamic Supreme Council and cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's group. It is seen as having ties to Iran.

Fourth with 43 seats was the Kurdistan Alliance, which included the two historically dominant Kurdish parties and others including the Kurdistan Communist Party. A new independent Kurdish party, Change (Gorran), won 8 seats.

In the view of Salam Ali of the Iraqi Communist Party, the U.S. wants to ensure that whatever government emerges will be a "fragile balance that they can manipulate." While he thinks the U.S. prefers "somebody other than Maliki," Ali said, "they can influence all these blocs, including those close to Iran."

This election was conducted under a controversial law adopted with heavy pressure from the U.S. Its formula for awarding parliamentary seats, many warned, would disenfranchise smaller slates and further entrench existing dominant parties.

That is exactly what happened. The Iraqi Communist Party, which had 2 seats in Parliament and, with its coalition partners, held one of the largest campaign rallies in the country, drawing some 15,000 people, will have no seats in the new Parliament. Most other smaller slates also wound up with no seats.

The Kurdish Alliance and the Shiite Islamic slate are now key players in determining who will lead Iraqi's government.

Vast sums of money, on a scale never seen before in Iraq, much of it from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, played a major role in the election. All the big slates had their own satellite television stations which promoted their campaigns. One such station, Al Sharqiya, in effect a mouthpiece for Allawi, reportedly has Saudi funding, and another, Al-Arabiya, which also backed Allawi, is partly Saudi-owned.

The flow of cash funded a flood of giant campaign billboards. The disconnect between their glowing slogans and the reality of everyday life - electricity outages, joblessness, inadequate public services - infuriated many Iraqis.

Allawi benefited from a pre-election de-Baathification crisis.

Under a 2008 law adopted by Parliament, a de-Baathification commission disqualified about 500 among thousands of candidates due to alleged Baathist involvement. Maliki had re-integrated thousands of lower-level former Baathists into political and social life as part of the country's efforts to overcome past divisions. His Shiite Islamic rivals used the issue to attack him. To maintain his own Shiite base, Maliki strongly backed the Baathist disqualifications. Allawi, in turn, accused Maliki of seeking to marginalize Sunnis.

Ali of the Iraqi CP said the U.S. "interfered in a very blunt and open way," pressing to postpone resolution of the candidates' status until after the elections. The U.S. role "caused a lot of displeasure," Ali said.

The furor boosted voter turnout among Allawi's base.

One disillusioned Iraqi in the UK commented on a blog, "How many people could have been fed, clothed, housed, employed, or treated with all the money and effort that continues to go into this game of musical chairs ...?

Noting that President Obama hailed the elections as a big success, British political scientist Toby Dodge, writing in the UK Guardian, says, "The ramifications of the 7 March vote are still unfolding and are starting to look much less positive than Obama had hoped."

Ali said a priority is building a mass movement for electoral reform. The current law is "designed to suit the big blocs and perpetuate them in power," he said. "All of them say they are opposed to sectarianism. In reality, all of them have come to power through this system. The election law effectively maintains this system."

"Change," Ali said, "has to come from below."

Iraqi CP supports call for vote recount

People’s Unity electoral list demands

a recount of votes

Election results continue to impact the overall Iraqi political scene, especially after the announcement of [preliminary] election results, despite calls for a postponement and for a manual recount of the votes, wholly or partially, due to the existence of large-scale fraud and manipulation.

The Secretary of the Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party, Hamid Majeed Mousa, stressed that the election results announced by the Higher Electoral Commission last Friday evening (26th March) are preliminary results, and the candidates still have an opportunity to present their objections.

This comes at a time when the deadline for the submission of appeals is Monday 29th March, according to the Electoral Commission.

In a statement to “Iraq Beituna Agency”, Mousa said that People’s Unity (“Ittihad Al-Shaab”) list has a lot of objections regarding the fairness and integrity of these elections,” asserting “our determination to present our point of view and objections of the list to the Electoral Commission and the Constitutional Court, and calling for a recount in many provinces.”

Mousa pointed out that “the parliamentary elections were marred by a lot of manipulation and lack of integrity in all its stages, which has been reflected negatively on the share of votes of many lists.”

For his part, Mufid al-Jazairy, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party, said: “The electoral process has witnessed many forms of manipulation and fraud,” and “totally lacked transparency”. He added that the election results “would have certainly changed if an end was put to this fraud.”
Al-Jazairy explained to “Voices of Iraq” news agency that “in every stage of the electoral process, especially in the stages of vote sorting and counting, and in entering data in computers, there were many types of manipulation”.

Raid Fahmi, member of the Political Bureau of the Party, held the Electoral Commission and the Electoral Law responsible for the negative repercussions that have occurred in the elections and the resulting injustice and violations of the rights of voters.
Fahmi told the Iraqi National News Agency that “the election law was totally unfair and we raised objections to it from the beginning. Under this law, votes belonging to our list were given to others.”
He added: “The Electoral Commission has contributed to the loss of our votes because of its incompetence, in addition to violations and fraud that took place on the polling day and afterwards. There was room for manipulation of the election results.”

Report published on Iraqi CP’s website on 27th March 2010

In Basra .. Iraqi CP celebrates 76th anniversary

Basra celebrates the 76th anniversary
of the Iraqi Communist Party

The provincial committee of the Iraqi Communist Party in Basra organized a celebration of the 76th anniversary on 2nd April 2010. The event held in Utbah bin Ghazwan meeting hall in central Basra, which was packed with party supporters. It was attended by delegations of political groups and a representative of the Governor of Basra.

An opening speech delivered by the Secretary of the Provincial Committee, comrade Abu Mohammed, recalled the heroic struggle of the party since its foundation by Comrade Fahad on 31st March 1934, and dealt with various aspects of party policy and the current political situation.

The expatriate poet Abdul Karim Kasid was warmly received by the audience when he read out his poem “The Beautiful Horse”. He was followed by two poets, Ahmed Jassim
and Mohammed Jassim Issa. The latter had suffered a lot under the repression of the Saddam’s dictatorship. Then came the turn of Basra’s veteran popular poet, Uncle Nasser, and the poet Mohammed Mozan. Several local party organizations were then presented with awards in appreciation of their work.

The programme included a number of songs dedicated to the 67th anniversary that were presented by the Basra Group for Folk Art. Traditional music and songs were also performed with the participation of the veteran singer Tariq al-Shibli.

Iraqi CP celebrates 76th anniversary in Baghdad

Iraqi Communist Party celebrates its 76th Anniversary
at mass gathering in Baghdad

The Iraqi Communist Party celebrated the 76th anniversary of its foundation (31st March 1934) at a mass gathering held in Baghdad on Friday 2 April 2010, in the presence of its secretary comrade Hamid Majeed Mousa and several members of its leadership.

Messages of greeting from the Iraqi president, Mr Jalal Talabani, and the president of the Kurdistan region, Mr Masoud Barzani, were read out. The speech of the party’s Central Committee was delivered by Dr Hassan Akif, member of its political bureau. A message of greeting was also delivered by Mr Mousa Faraj, an independent candidate of the democratic electoral slate “Ittihadd Al-Shaab” (People’s Unity), who is a former head of the Integrity Commission.

The audience, that packed out the Samiramis Cinema hall in central Baghdad, enjoyed a cultural programme with poems recited by Hamoud Qa’id and Raid al-Asadi. The mass gathering then enjoyed songs and traditional music performed by the March Group and Iraqi Maqam Ensemble, and the singers Sama, Nahla, Husam Ali and Karim al-Rassam.

Iraqi CP Website: http://www.iraqicp.com/

Posters on 76th Anniversary of IRAQI COMMUNIST PARTY

76th Anniversary
of the
IRAQI COMMUNIST PARTY
(31st March 1934 - 31st March 2010)

Iraqi CP: Solidarity with the Palestinian people against Israeli terrorism and settlement policy‏

Statement of the IRAQI COMMUNIST PARTY

In Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Against Israeli Terrorism and Settlement Policy

The acts of Israeli repression and terror have escalated in recent days against the Palestinian people in the occupied territories who have been confronting the racist settlement policies. The occupation authorities and the gangs of settlers have committed new crimes, killing four young Palestinians in Nablus. These developments have come at a time when voices of international protests have escalated against the refusal of Netanyahu's government to stop settlement expansion and land confiscation in the occupied West Bank, and against its utter disregard of the United Nations and the international community.

While strongly condemning the killings and crimes of torture committed by Israel, reaffirming solidarity with the Palestinian people and their legitimate popular resistance to occupation, and calling for international protection for the Palestinians, our Party looks forward to the restoration of Palestinian national unity as a principal prerequisite for achieving Palestinian people's rights, liberation and independence, in particular the right to establish their own independent national state on their territory, impose a complete cessation of Israel's settlement policy and end the occupation in accordance with UN resolutions.

Political Bureau of the Central Committee
Iraqi Communist Party

22 March 2010

Iraqi CP – Interview about recent Iraqi Elections

Iraqi CP – Interview about recent Iraqi Elections

Interview with comrade Salam Ali, member of the Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party, on the recent Iraqi Elections
Published by “Nameh Mardom, the official organ of the Tudeh Party – Iran (15th March 2010)

Q1. What do you think about the new election laws and increased number of MP's? Apart from preventing the Baathist electoral candidacy, has the “Iraq's Accountability and Justice Commission” imposed any other restrictions on political parties or individuals participating in this election?

The amendments to election law that were passed by dominant forces in parliament on 9 November 2009 were totally undemocratic and constituted a gross violation of the rights of the Iraqi electorate. Articles 1 and 3 of this law, in particular, were designed to maintain the hegemony and control of political power by the ruling political forces and perpetuate the infamous sectarian power sharing system.
This will mean a repetition of the experience in the provincial elections that took place in January 2009, when the “big blocs” stole the votes of more than two and a quarter million people who had given their votes to other “smaller” lists. The same electoral ploy will be used by these same blocs to grab additional seats in the parliament.
The number of MPs has been increased to 325 (compared with 275) in the new parliament, based on an estimated increase of the population to about 32 million during the past 4 years. This highlights one fundamental loophole in the election process, caused by the lack of a proper electoral register based on a population census. Such a census should have taken place by the end of 2009, but was eventually postponed. The electoral register inside Iraq is therefore based on data of the food ration distribution system, which is fraught with errors and open to manipulation. For voters outside Iraq, there is no electoral register (with the eligible electorate estimated at about 1.25 million), thus requiring people to register (according to new arbitrary conditions announced by the Electoral Commission) and vote at the same time.
The measures taken by the “Accountability and Justice Commission”, to exclude candidates who had held senior positions in Saddam’s Baath party and the security organs of the ousted regime, caused a lot of controversy. This is due to the fact that the so-called process of “de-Baathification” (that preceded the promulgation of the Accountability and Justice Law in parliament in early 2008) had been politicized by the ruling Islamic groups. The net outcome of the measures taken on the eve of election was to deepen sectarian polarization, thus playing into the hands of both competing “big” blocs. It was exploited fully by their political leaders to stir up fears among their constituencies and thereby mobilize them once again along sectarian lines. This has exposed, in practice, the true sectarian colours of these forces and their hollow claims of abandoning sectarian positions and adopting a non-sectarian national democratic programme.

Q2. Nearly 300 political parties and groups have formed into 12 blocks competing for 325 parliamentary seats. Is this a sign of weakness and political division? Or does it point to a growing political maturity in Iraq’s politics that recognises the importance of united action?

The most important development since the previous elections is the realignment of forces and the break-up of big political Islamic blocs (both Shiite and Sunni). Some groups within the camp of political Islam had to abandon their openly sectarian position and adopt a national discourse, with some borrowing slogans of democratic forces (e.g. Maleki’s State of Law slate that calls for building “a democratic modern civil state based on institutions and law …etc”.). The defeat of the Supreme Islamic Assembly in the provincial elections in 2009 also forced its coalition (the Iraqi National Alliance) to attempt to change its image, by enticing a few liberal elements to join its candidates in return for promises of seats in the new parliament.
Many small groups decided, following their bitter experience in previous national and provincial elections, to join bigger blocs with the hope of getting into the parliament. The new election law, which was designed to marginalize and effectively eliminate small political entities, also contributed to this process. While the reduction of the number of entities contesting the elections may be seen as a sign of growing maturity in Iraq’s politics, the manipulation of the electoral system to perpetuate the continued hegemony of “big blocs” and control of political power is, however, a very dangerous development that could have grave consequences for the democratic future of Iraq. The current exceptional and transitional stage which Iraq is going through requires political diversity rather than policies of exclusion and political hegemony.

Q3. What is the reaction in Iraq and in particular among the religious groupings regarding the allocation of 25% quota for women which has resulted in 1813 out of approximately 6200 candidates being women?

The 25% quota for women in parliament was endorsed once again in parliament without any real opposition, and despite the poor performance of the many women MPs, especially those belonging to religious parties, during the past 4 years. Women’s organisations and activists campaigned to ensure that this quota system is adhered to in the new “open list” system adopted for the recent elections.
It is important to note that women’s participation in the elections was quite evident and characterised by enthusiasm. This is an indication of growing social and political consciousness in society, in addition to a growing awareness among women of the importance of their role in society, for achieving their rights and enjoying equal opportunities with men.

Q4. ICP is part of the People’s Unity list; what are the key socio-economic components of the People’s Unity’s programme?

The People’s Unity list adopted a detailed programme that included socio-economic and developmental goals. A brief version of this programme was widely distributed during the election campaign. Here are some key points:
Social goals:
- Enactment of a new Personal Status Law to ensure the abolition of all forms of discrimination against women, respect for their rights and empowering them politically, economically and socially, and providing conditions to ensure their participation in public life.
- Attention to the internally displaced and migrants who were forced to leave their homes due to terrorism and sectarian violence. And to eliminate the legacy of criminal campaigns against the Faili Kurds.
- To embrace culture and arts, ensuring their flourishing and promotion, and to reject any attempt to restrict thought and creativity and marginalize intellectuals and creative people.
- To ensure a better life for students and youth, and to provide all the prerequisites for the development of their talents and utilizing their potential.
- To respect the independence of the unions, trade unions, cultural associations and all the civil organizations, and to provide all forms of support to them, so as to enhance their role and contribution in public life, and to accelerate the enactment of a democratic law for civil society organizations.
Economic and developmental goals:
- Work to achieve sustainable economic-social development, infrastructure development, and restructuring the economy to develop and modernize the productive commodity and services sectors and provide the prerequisites for scientific and technological progress.
- To protect national wealth, especially oil, and to rely primarily on direct national investment in its exploitation and management. To employ these resources in the development of the national economy and achieving social justice. And to regulate the management of the hydrocarbon sector and accelerate the promulgation of the Oil and Gas Law.
- To provide government support to the public, private, cooperative and joint economic sectors, and to give priority to these national sectors in tenders, contracts and investment.
- To rehabilitate the factories and industrial installations of the various productive sectors.
- To activate the process of reconstruction and give priority to the disadvantaged and damaged regions.
- To pursue a prudent investment policy by encouraging investment and attracting national and foreign funds to contribute to development and reconstruction.
- To accelerate the rehabilitation of the electricity sector.
- Paying attention to the agricultural sector and bringing it up to self-sufficiency, ensuring food security, paying special attention to combating desertification and drought, and ensuring that Iraq gets a fair share of water.
- Organizing the commercial sector and development of mechanisms and controls regulating the market in order to protect consumers, particularly the poor, and to ensure a good quality of goods and services.

Q5. Was the election held fairly? How was the participation of people, and how do you compare these elections to the last election or the one under the Saddam regime?

The enthusiastic participation of the people in the elections on 7th March 2010, despite criminal terrorist attacks and bombings in Baghdad and other parts of the country, and the killing of 38 innocent people, was clear evidence of the determination of the people to consolidate democratic practice through the ballot box, and to continue the fight for a fully independent and sovereign, unified, democratic and federal Iraq. The voters’ turnout, at 62.4%, was higher than that during the provincial elections in January 2009.
While stressing these positive aspects in the elections, many violations were noted by observers that included the electoral register, election campaigns, the “special voting” (for the security forces), the “media silence day” (a halt to campaigning the day before and during elections), as well as the problematic elections outside Iraq, denying tens of thousands of Iraqis their right to vote.
In addition, due to the non-existence of a law regulating political parties and their funding, there was no control over funding for election campaigns. Billions of dollars, pouring in from outside the country to influence the outcome of the elections, were spent lavishly by dominant forces, on media advertising as well as buying the support of voters.
As to comparison with elections under Saddam, the latter could not even be called elections, but rather a sham process with people being forced out to cast their votes for a single candidate, the dictator, who got over 99% of the votes.

Q6. How would the outcome of this election impact the formation of the new government, withdrawal of foreign troops and US troops in particular, and relations with neighbours in the Middle East region? Can this election affect the political dynamics of our region?

Due to the fact that none of the big electoral blocs will achieve an absolute majority, the formation of the new government will be a protracted process, with political manoeuvring to set up a ruling coalition. Any such government will have to adhere to the terms of withdrawal of American forces as stipulated in the Iraq-US security agreement (with total withdrawal by the end of 2011). The overwhelming support among the Iraqi people for ending the occupation and foreign military presence, and eliminating its legacy, is a powerful factor that would prevent any attempt to circumvent this agreement.
A lot will depend on a smooth transfer to a new government, strengthening national unity and overcoming sectarian tensions that were deliberately accentuated by some forces for their narrow political ends. This will lay the basis for embarking on reconstruction and building the institutions of a modern democratic civil state, based on the principle of citizenship, human rights and social justice. A stable, peaceful, democratic and prosperous Iraq, that enjoys good relations with all its neighbours, is essential for achieving peace and social progress for the peoples of the Middle East and the whole world.