Pressing need for change in Iraq

Democracy in Iraq is still in its infancy. Conducting parliamentary elections does not mean that whoever sits under parliament's dome will be a true representative of the voters. It also does not mean that Iraqis have learnt through distorted practices the true values of democracy. Moreover, it does not mean that the parties in power have made use of the experiences of the past few years.

The Iraqi elections are going to take place with the absence of two important factors: the parties' law and the population census. These two factors are essential conditions for the legitimacy of the elections, and the lack of them is an aberration.

Without a law organising the work and functioning of parties, democracy will enter a phase of chaos, thus allowing entities with agendas linked to the interests of neighbouring countries to continue their role in maintaining the power interests of these countries, and tamper with Iraq's future and destiny. In the absence of a population census, there will always be strong doubts about the number of parliamentary seats allocated to every governorate.

The parliament is the supreme authority in the country. Any parliament member must have a number of characteristics, such as an affiliation to Iraq, trustworthiness, integrity, a higher education certificate or life experience which qualifies and enables the representative to give an opinion regarding the grave issues discussed and decided upon in the parliament. Two elections took place in the country over the past few years, the first brought about a parliament which produced a transitional government, headed by former Iraqi prime minister Ebrahim Al Ja'afari.

The first parliament yielded a constitution that does not allow building a modern state which utilises true democratic practices. It also immunised the constitution against amendments, as item 4 of Article 142 stipulates that three governorates have the joint power of annulling any amendment, which is termed as the (suspending 1/6th), because there are 18 governorates in Iraq.

The second elections brought about a parliament which voted in Nouri Al Maliki's government that has been in office for a whole parliamentary chapter.

This parliament passed a number of laws in a clumsy manner according to allotments that are far from true democratic practices.

Privileges doubled

The election law which was passed in exceptional circumstances that entailed a coordination process safeguarding the interests of major parliamentary blocs, was the last act taken up by the lawmakers.

However, the parliament was very active in passing laws that doubled the privileges of the lawmakers and senior officials. As a result their income ranks among the highest in the world.

In both cases, the elections yielded a legislative and an executive authority which failed to honour any of the election campaign promises given by the political blocs that are in power in Iraq.

The essence of the election process as administrated by the major blocs revolves around the insistence of Al Maliki's Dawa party to continue leading the political process as against the persistence of other blocs to remove him.

With the approaching elections, the struggle will take new scales and dimensions. The new element of undermining the other is the latest fad in the election battle, which took the form of major blasts witnessed in Baghdad over the past few months. The bombings have weakened Al Maliki's position and his accomplishments in maintaining security and stability.

Other methods used took the form of disgracing politicians on internet websites that side with certain political blocs against others.

There is nothing that can stop assassinations, especially as the major political blocs still have armed militias.

The political undermining that is taking place today between the leaderships of different blocs is far removed from democratic traditions. Dictatorships on the other hand resort to these practices, where the ideology of a single party regime prevails. Such regimes will not save any efforts in defaming political opponents for the purpose of ending their political careers. Totalitarian regimes will also accuse the other of treason and working for foreign forces. The justifications of change in the Iraqi political map are strong, and there is more than one pointer towards the awakening of the Iraqi individual's awareness, after being exposed to great injustice by incompetent decisionmakers. However, this change may not be at the desired level because of a number of reasons.

The impartiality of the security apparatus in the country is an important reason, as most security forces have been infiltrated by militias and some of those groups have loyalties outside Iraq.

Political money payoffs have also played a vital role in buying votes in previous elections. Parties with huge funds have distributed money and presents, and there is no law that will force these parties to reveal their funding sources. Media reports have revealed that neighbouring countries fund the election campaigns of some candidates.

Exploiting religious figures for poll purposes has also been a method used in previous elections. It also seems that the same religious figures will be further used in the coming elections, after a number of political groups played a major role in this respect in the Ashura commemoration which took place a few days ago in Karbala.

Rigging the elections is also a possibility; due to the widespread corruption in government departments and the interference of some neighbouring countries in Iraq's internal affairs.

Dr Mohammad Akef Jamal is an Iraqi writer based in Dubai.