Election posters in Sulaimani's "Second District" on October 4, 2021. (NRT Digital Media)
PM:05:11:09/10/2021
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SULAIMANI — Ahead of this year’s parliamentary elections,
Iraq’s Council of Representatives passed a new electoral reform law that
created 83 multimember constituencies designed to tie legislators more closely
with their communities, theoretically boosting the chances of independent
candidates getting elected despite the machine politics of the elite.
So what do these new constituencies look like in the
Kurdistan Region and Kirkuk and what is different about them from what voters
saw in past elections?
Previously, Iraq used a proportional party list system that took
the country’s eighteen governorates as whole units, with the number of seats for
each governorate determined by the size of its population.
Those seats were then allocated proportionally among the
parties based on the vote that each of them received in each election. This
meant that voters were selecting parties, rather than individual candidates,
which they will now have a chance to do.
Under the new system, each governorate is divided up into several
different consistencies, each electing between three and five members to the
Council of Representatives. By law, at least one MP from each district will be
a woman.
The fifteen consistencies across Sulaimani, Erbil, Duhok,
and Kirkuk governorates will elect a total of 56 MPs.
Some parties from the Kurdistan Region will also field candidates
in some parts of Diyala, Saladin, and Nineveh.
NRT sought to obtain an official map of the constituencies
to accompany this description, but it has not been publicly released yet by
Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).
SULAIMANI
Sulaimani governorate is divided up into five consistencies
that will elect a total of eighteen members of parliament.
The northern neighborhoods of Sulaimani city are grouped
with the governorate’s rural Sharbazher and Mawat districts to form the "1st District,” which will elect four MPs, while the city’s southern neighborhoods
and Qaradagh and Bazian districts form the three-member "2nd District.”
The bulk of the votes in these two
districts will come from the city itself, rather from the outlying rural areas.
In the governorate’s eastern mountains on the Iranian border
and on the fertile plains below them, Halabja, Sharazur, Penjwen, and Said
Sadiq form the "3rd District,” which will send three MPs to Baghdad.
Sulaimani’s other two districts are centered on the
governorate’s two independent administrations.
In Raparin, Ranya and Pshdar are joined by Dukan to form the
lakeside "4th District.” Voters there will elect four MPs.
The dry hill country of Kalar, Darbandikhan, Kifri,
Chamchamal, and the part of Diyala governorate’s Khanaqin district that is controlled
by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) form the Garmian-based "5thDistrict,” which will also have four MPs.
ERBIL
Under the new law, Erbil governorate has four constituencies that will send a
total of fifteen MPs to Baghdad.
Located the in the mountainous northeastern part of the
governorate, the four-member "1st District” includes the Soran
administration and Mergasur, Rawanduz, Choman, and Shaqlawa districts.
The "2nd District” includes the outlying areas of the
Kurdistan Region’s capital city, starting in Khabat district in the west and curving
around to the south and east to include Dashti Hawler and Koya. It will elect
four MPs.
Like Sulaimani, Erbil city is divided into two constituencies.
The city’s western areas, including Ankawa district and the Goran,
Nawroz, Tayrawa, Bahrka, and Azadi neighborhoods, form the three-member "3rd District.”
Voters in the "4th District” will elect four MPs from Erbil city’s eastern neighborhoods,
including Hasarok, Shorsh, Badawa, and Runaki.
Separately, there is also a seat
in Erbil set aside for the Christian minority.
DUHOK
Duhok governorate is divided up into three constituencies that
will collectively elect eleven members of parliament.
The "1st District” comprises the northeastern
part of the governorate, including Duhok city and the ridges and valleys of Amedi
district, which will elect four MPs.
In the northwest along the Turkish and Syrian borders, the Zakho
administration and Semel district join to form the three-member "2nd District.”
Four MPs will be elected from the "3rd District,”
which includes the hills and plains of Akre, Sheikhan, and Bardarash on the
border with Nineveh governorate, and some of which is disputed with Baghdad.
Duhok also has a seat for Christians.
KIRKUK
Kirkuk’s three constituencies will send twelve legislators
to the Council of Representatives.
Formerly controlled by the KRG, Kirkuk is fully part of Iraq’s
disputed areas, with both Erbil and Baghdad claiming that they should be in
charge of the oil-rich, multiethnic governorate. Ever since the Iraqi Security
Forces (ISF) and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) pushed the Peshmerga out
following the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum in 2017, it has been under
federal jurisdiction.
Nevertheless, large numbers of Kurds live there, so the
parties based in the Kurdistan Region will be looking to pick up seats in the
governorate.
The governorate’s "1st District” is made up of Kirkuk
city’s Rahimawa, Shorja, Laylan, and Qadisiya 1 neighborhoods and the outlying northern
sub-districts abutting Erbil and Sulaimani governorates. The district’s mainly
Kurdish population will elect five MPs.
The centrally located "2nd District” is primarily
urban and includes the Hay al Askari, Qadisiya 2, Taza Rashad, and Yaychi
neighborhoods, along with the outlying Daquq district. Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmens
will compete for four seats in this constituency.
The southwestern "3rd District” in Hawija and
Riadh will elect three MPs, with Arab parties expected to do well there.
(NRT Digital Media)