Shatha Khalil *
After the US invasion in 2003, it has been emerged on Iraqi arena tens of alliances ,and political blocs and hundreds of parties whose political backgrounds varied between Islamism, liberalism, secularism, communism and leftism, and also the orientations of some nationalist parties were varied between Arab, Kurdish and Turkoman nationalities .
As the Iraqi parliamentary elections are due to be held on May 12, there is widespread discontent with the lack of clarity in Iraq’s election programs and the disappointment of a simple citizen who was tired of repeating faces and slogans.
And here we ask: Will the Iraqi voter bring new faces within the large lists headed by symbols, such as Haider Abadi, Nouri al-Maliki, Iyad Allawi, Hadi al-Ameri, about Baghdad and Osama Najafi, about Mosul, as happened in the 2010 elections, as these big names Maliki, and Iyad Allawi, and Osama Nujaifi ” had got more than half a million votes, which brought to the parliament new candidates in those lists and others.
According to experts, the number of candidates is disproportionate to Iraq’s population and area compared to many countries in the world whose population is over ten times than the size of Iraq’s population but the elections of it do not inspire the greed of groups and people as much as the Iraqi elections and what some MPs achieve personal gains .
Observers say that more than 90 percent of the slogans of parties and political figures – Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds and Christians – and the rest of Iraq’s sects have been repeating themselves since 2005 and until today, which means ” repetition of the failure” and the failure to achieve the public’s aspirations for elections.
The proposed alliances for the upcoming elections 2018 about 30 alliances or coalition, from 304 parties, movements and political groups, will run in the upcoming parliamentary and local elections.
The lists of candidates for the upcoming elections revealed about the repetition of the names of about 300 parliamentary and political figures since 2003 won the last local and legislative elections between 2005 and 2014, or it has got executive positions.
A source close to the governing body of the elections said that more than 30 alliances and political bloc repeat the same slogans and promises made in the 2005 elections of the National Assembly, which elected 275 members, and in the legislative elections for the years 2010 and 2014.
He added that slogans that have been repeated since 2005 did not achieve for the citizen security , housing , eliminate poverty and unemployment, end sectarianism and discrimination, appointment of university graduates and competencies , build hospitals, take care of youth and sports, and rehabilitate schools and the return of the displaced persons to their places and its reconstruction were added in this election.
observers explain that the leaders and personalities are fixed and MPs have become as the chess pieces which are moved according to the opinion of their leaders and “The upcoming elections are no different from its predecessors, because even if some faces change, the politics of the party remain the same without change, which causes the destruction, damage and backwardness of Iraq “.
The expert on the Iraqi political issue, Iyad Dulaimi said: The large faces are being rooted in the Iraqi elections, because its political and partisan entities are based mainly on these political and partisan faces.
Al-Dulaimi added that the Iraqi voter has been accustom to the election of the faces of no electoral programs, and that the Iraqi voter is a constituent voter who has not yet get rid of his sectarian and ethnic subordination. Therefore, the upcoming elections will be a repeated copy of the previous elections.
The encouragement of the US civil administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, the multi-party elections to legislate the laws and legislation that organized the political process in Iraq after 2003 to promote the phenomenon of increasing the number of parties, including the State Administration Law and the Law of Political Parties and Entities No. 97 in 2004 and the Election Law No. 96 in 2004, Sixth article of the third paragraph of the second part of the procedures for the establishment of political parties and organizations issued by the Independent High Electoral Commission in 2016, this article provides that “a paper list of the names of party members should be available , which includes at least two thousand members of different provinces (Not less than two governorates), taking into account the representation of women, in accordance with the model prepared by the Department in addition to providing an electronic table of the names themselves, “and thus any group of two thousand people can form a new political party, according to the new procedures, and the procedures are lenient In the formation of new parties since the start of the Iraqi political process after 2003
The Parties Law gave every person the right to form a political entity eligible to compete in the electoral process if he is supported and signed by 500 eligible voters, meaning that anyone who could stand for election alone or in a bloc with a political address. ”
These legislative facilities sponsored and supported by Coalition Provisional Authority and US Governor Paul Bremer, encouraged the establishment of parties and the increase of its numbers. However, the results of the first elections and the exit of large numbers of parties without any achievements encouraged pluralism in the parties (which gave way to weak elites that are away from the achievement of national unity to build the country, and lack of focus on the achievement of programs and objectives to preserve the wealth of the country, indicating the weakness of the law and a large leniency in the procedures governing the establishment of parties.
Dr. Faleh Abdul-Jabbar said that the role of the US administration in encouraging this phenomenon and the civil governor in Iraq, Paul Bremer, which led to the emergence of political headlines and many personalities and blocks of no experience in the political work, and led to the formation of blocs and political parties in exchange for promises of significant gains in the new Iraqi state.
In the view of some observers, the motives of Paul Bremer civil administrator in Iraq from the promotion of this large number of political organizations, the desire of America to dismantle the internal front of political forces, and to prevent the establishment of one united front dealing and communicating with them through the creation of multiple parties and thus multiple and conflicting convictions interests, can be created by multi-party, so the idea of a wide variety of parties and in Iraq does not create a united front to serve the country.
Observers confirm that “The number of parties in any country is not proof of democracy at all, for example, the United States has only eight parties that participated in the legislative elections but the active two parties in the American political arena are the Republican and the Democratic. While the number of parties in Iraq exceeded 300 compared a country where its population’s size is only 35 million people that makes it in the forefront of Guinness list in the number of parties as the number of parties in Iraq exceeds the number of parties in India , even without taking into account the size of the country in proportion to the population, India, which has a population of one billion, there are only 1851 parties, seven of them are main parties and 49 of them are regional , while the state does not recognize the other parties because it did not get the percentage due to it in the Indian People’s Assembly, which is estimated at 4% of the proportion of seats in the People’s Assembly, or 3.33% of the members of the Legislative Assembly of the state, while the number of parties in the largest democracies does not exceed the Number of fingers.
“The multiplicity of parties is a healthy phenomenon in society and the state, if there are sound foundations in building the political process in which democratic competition is supposed to be based on political programs that will be applied on the ground, not just slogans, or sectarian competition, and militias and non- development projects and programs ” said writer and researcher Mujahid al-Tai.
al-Tai added “If we compare Iraq with the emerging democracies, it is clear that the cause of the chaos in Iraq is not only the multiplicity of parties, but the dominant parties that carry a sub project non –national wearing the gown of the national state, in addition to the absence of strict constitutional foundations and social and political bonds. And these foundations regulate the non-violent political rivalry and lead to positive outcomes instead of the chaos that now dominates Iraq and brought it to the difficulty of democratic transformation.
Financing Iraqi parties, from where?
The Iraqi writer “Ammar Wajih” revealed that most of the parties have been receiving funding over the past years from several sources, some are internal or external donations with a large disparity between these parties, while legally parties are supposed to be in the future only internal funding, depending on contributions and donations and projects undertaken by individuals.
The accusations against political parties have increased with the use of armed force to finance its activities, through the smuggling and sale of oil in regional ports, armed robberies, kidnapping and extortion.
This was confirmed by the MP from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan “Rezan Sheikh Delir” that most of the kidnappings that are taking place in Baghdad and other provinces have become a source of funding for the parties.
“Evidence for this is that the security authorities charged with protecting the security of the citizen can not control or arrest those criminals , because there are parties that support their work and encourage them, according to the data,” said Sheikh Delir.
He explained that the Iraqi parliament, which includes political parties active in the country, accuses the parties themselves stealing funds allocated to help the displaced and turn it to its own account, where the Parliamentary Committee on Migration and Displaced accused political parties not named, the acquisition of funds allocated to the displaced.
MP Hanin al-Qadu stressed that civil society organizations are largely subject to the dominance of political parties looking for sources of funding for its upcoming election campaigns.
He added “Hundreds of millions of dollars are lost in dark rooms and the Commission can not follow the movement of these funds or accountable organizations for not being able to access its spending mechanism.
The Iraqi judiciary must take its role in eliminating the corruption and corrupt people, retroactively to return the stolen Iraqi funds, and ensure the achievement of political , social and economic reform , and usually the confidence of citizens lies in the judiciary, as the political agendas still affect the judiciary, which must deal neutrally with the files, As the file of the eradication is the only file that is applied in each electoral cycle in the country, the judiciary goes beyond the files of corruption and crimes and stealing the people’s food while pursuing the files of eradication , and prevent the candidacy of anyone who proves to belong to the Baath Party.
The judiciary, which is the highest authority in the country, should strike with the iron fist of all the corrupt and do not discriminate between the corrupt, whatever their position, because corruption is drowning Iraq and only abide by the achievement of justice and the fight against corruption. The Iraqi judiciary must accountable all the corrupt and not allow the perpetrators, or those who are involved in corruption , stealing and crimes not to accept their candidacy in the elections, and that the judiciary is the only body that can prevent corrupt people from dominating the necks of the people in the parliamentary session, which is responsible for their access to senior leadership positions
Legalists assert that the judicial files of all candidates exist with the judiciary and that the law has the power to prevent corrupt persons from reaching the parliament.
And the judiciary must activate the principle of : where do you get this? To know the papers and the people shall be aware and knowledge of how members of the House of Representatives arrive to the Parliament as they represent the people , they must enjoy the attributes and conditions set forth in the Iraqi Constitution in Article 61, the parliamentary will take over the functions of oversight and questioning and clarification and ask questions to those accused of corruption from officials.
And that the arrival of corrupt to the rule destroys the country, so the judiciary is required to prevent their access to parliament, according to the law, “as most of the judicial files of candidates for the upcoming Iraqi elections, has not been followed by the judicial authorities, which led candidates involved in judicial files to the elections, and opened the door to their access to power in the country.
The centers of power in Iraq since 2003 are the biggest cause of administrative and financial corruption, the Iraqi public money is loose, and it is known that loose money teaches the theft. And the corruption in Iraq has gone beyond public money to private money noting that many of those who have power, influence and arms have not hesitated to infringe on people’s personal property, especially what is known as minorities, religion and nationalism.
Without hesitation, it is possible to say that 90 percent of parties and groups that have formed themselves as political entities for the next election are motivated by greed to gain power and gain the money offered by power in the House of Representatives or in the government, provincial councils and local governments.
It is worth to be noted that if the salaries and allowances given to the members of the House of Representatives and ministers and agents and members of the independent bodies, “the governors and members of the provincial councils are half of what they are now , the number of parties and entities and electoral alliances will be reduced to less than half of the current number, and even if they are a quarter of the value of salaries and current allocations, they will fell to less than a quarter of the current number . But If there was a real policy to combat administrative and financial corruption, the number will drop to about 10 percent. This is exactly what Iraq needs from political parties and coalitions to build a stable and developing democratic state.
Economic Studies Unit
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies