ENAR report on watching the elections of the Councils of Governorates in Iraq

The Elections Network in the Arab Region is pleased to extend its thanks to the Higher Independent Elections Commission in Iraq for officially allowing the Network to participate in watching the process of elections of the councils of Iraqi governorates. The Network was represented by a team of Arab and international observers. The Network has declared that the real watching of elections does not mean the watching of the process of polling at the ballot boxes only, but is primarily a comprehensive effort to determine the extent of respect by the government authorities of the main requirements for holding free and fair elections. In other words, it means the respect of the basic human rights, foremost of these are the freedom of opinion and expression, the freedom of peaceful congregation, the freedom of forming political associations, the freedom of movement, and other freedoms and human rights.

As a confirmation of the Network’s principle of commitment to independence, non-bias, objectivity, abundant experience in the management of the affairs of elections, the Elections Network in the Arab Region watched the local council elections in Iraq ever since the beginning of the election process through the members of its team. It is noteworthy that the members of the Network’s team are members of the Iraqi organizations that are affiliated with the Network.

For the same purpose, the network held a number of important interviews with government officials, party leaders, Iraqi political blocs, a number of candidates running in the elections, and the Non-Government organizations to make sure that their rights were being respected and whether they had any complaints regarding the election process.

Experts from the Network have also studied the Iraqi Electoral Law and the amendments introduced to it later. The experts have also acquainted themselves with the earlier preparations for the polling, beginning from the period of registration and the campaigns launched to spread awareness among the electorate of the importance of using the right of participation in the elections and the period of election campaigning. The attitude and performance of the media was closely monitored.

Elections of the Councils of Iraqi Governorates:

The elections of the Councils of the Iraqi Governorates were held on Saturday, 31 January 2009, as the second elections of its kind since 2003. It should be recalled that the earlier elections were held according to the system of proportionate representation and the closed list. However, the current elections were held according to the system of the open list, and this is viewed as a positive development in the electoral process. According to the figures published by the Higher Independent Elections Commission in Iraq, 15 million voters were eligible to vote in the elections of the councils of the Iraqi governorates.

• The Elections Network in the Arab Region would like to commend the efforts that were made to hold this major election on periodic basis on its due constitutional date. Nearly 7,000 polling centers were made available along with 42,000 polling stations. A total of 59,000 local monitors and more than 180,000 representatives of candidates were active in the elections. Two offices for the registration of international observers were opened at home and abroad. The records of the Commission have indicated that 14,431 candidates competed in the elections, including 3,912 women and 10,519 men. They competed for 440 seats of the councils of governorates, including 105 seats for women in 14 Iraqi governorates.
• The Elections Network in the Arab Region highly views the allocation of seats for the minorities, i.e. three seats for the Christians, one seat for the Sa’ibah sect, and one seat for the Yazidis, in addition to one seat for the Cheek, in accordance with the recent amendment introduced by the Iraqi parliament to amend the electoral law. Moreover, 25 per cent of the seats were allocated as a women quota.  

The new measures taken by the Commission to minimize the violations:

* The Elections Network in the Arab Region views with appreciation and satisfaction the measures taken by the Higher Independent Elections Commission in Iraq to forestall rigging and to curb the repetition of polling in the elections of the Iraqi governorates. It was essential to make sure that the number of voters who cast their ballots was equal to the number of the ballots. The process of the vote counting was done in the presence of the observers watching the elections, the representatives of the candidates, and the Commission’s personnel. The Network would also like to pay tribute to the Commission’s decision to revoke the results of the polling of any center if the number of the ballots were more than 5 per cent than the designated number. Such a measure did not exist in earlier elections.

• The Elections Network in the Arab Region highly appreciates the Commission’s decision to allow the military, the sick in hospitals, and prisoners who were sentenced to less than five years of imprisonment to cast their votes on a day that precedes the general polling day. A total of 85 polling centers were designated for this purpose. Iraq was divided into several electoral constituencies in accordance with the number of the governorates provided that each governorate should represent one electoral constituency.
• The Elections Network in the Arab region would like to commend the decision made by the Commission increasing the number of the election monitors to more than 50,000 monitors representing 523 civil society organizations.

Violations recorded during the election campaign:

1-        Several election observers have disclosed that many political blocs have committed election violations and that the Commission has issued penalties against them. The violations were primarily focused on the rules of conduct and attitude during the election campaign, particularly that the election campaign began before the date due for it to begin. Publicity sheets of paper were hung on the buildings, government departments, and mosques. Religious symbols were used as election publicity. Cases of assaulting other blocs were also reported. Nonetheless, several civil society organizations believed that the penalties imposed on the contraveners were very lenient. The Fairness Commission was content with imposing modest fines on the violations which these blocs have committed. There are people who believe that the use of this lenient penalty by the fairness Commission was an indication of the strong influence mustered by those who committed the violations.

2-        Many assaults, murders, and attacks were reported in the Iraqi governorates. Armed men, believed to belong to sectarian militias or influential armed groups, killed their competitors in the elections. Voters, candidates and their relatives were killed in violation of the principle of free elections.

3-        Moreover, Iraqi blocs participating in the elections said that military units of the army and police have carried out special election assignments contrary to the stipulations of the Iraqi constitution and Article 33 of the Electoral Law.

4-        Meanwhile, speakers at mosques delivering the Friday sermons utilized these sermons to promote the candidates of the parties to which they belonged contrary to article 35 of the Electoral Law which does not allow the use of the mosques and houses of worship for election publicity.

5-        The Elections network in the Arab Region was particularly worried about the evident use by some political parties and blocs of methods that violated the law, such as serving meals to would-be voters,  requesting the voters to give an oath of allegiance to certain candidates, the deliberate distortion of the image of other candidates, or using money to influence the voters. The observers of the Network have also noticed that the some candidates were fond of using clannish titles to get the votes of their own clans. Some political blocs used election publicity in government departments and houses of worship. Some of them hung publicity banners in the streets for all to see while the small blocs hung their publicity banners in secondary and peripheral places. Complaints were made that some of the hung banners were tampered with and torn up or marred with black ink. This was an indication that there were grave animosities among the candidates. These animosities have reached the point of using tactics that were a violation of Article 36 of the Electoral Law.

6-        Several local observers are apprehensive that the multiplicity of the candidates on the election lists reveals a clear trend of the quest for power, prestige and the desire to benefit from the many gains that are provided by virtue of membership in these councils, all the more so because many incumbent members of the current councils are involved in financial and administrative corruption deals and no legal measures were taken against them.

7-      The observers of the election campaign have confirmed that several candidates who are now holding political posts have taken advantage of their current positions to promote their own election chances and that their pictures were included in publicity posters of certain election lists. The same thing applied to many of those who hold senior posts in the State. This is viewed as taking advantage of official government posts for the benefit of specific political blocs and a violation of Paragraph 2 of Article 32 and Article 33 of the Electoral Law.

Report on the balloting, vote counting and the declaration of results:

As for the report on the more important phase of the election process, the Elections Network in the Arab Region, acting in accordance with the rules governing the attitude of the observers watching the elections and out of compliance with the instructions of the Higher Independent Elections Commission in Iraq, usually refrains from announcing or commenting on the results of the elections before the official announcement is made by the Commission. Moreover, the Network is now collecting all the remarks and comments sent by the observers of the Network from the various Iraqi governorates and the complaints received by the Commission or by other competent authorities to look into them and then issue a comprehensive and final report immediately after the Commission announces the results. The report is delivered to the election Commission and the Iraqi government and is sent to all the concerned parties monitoring the election process, particularly the media.    

Recommendations:

• The elections Network in the Arab Region recommends that the elections of the councils of the Iraqi governorates be held at one time, because this would leave a good impact showing the unity of the Iraqi people and helping to bring views closer among the Iraqis. It also helps to discard the divisions on the basis of ethnicity and sectarianism. The Elections Network in the Arab Region has concluded from the variety of the meetings it has held that the Iraqis attach great hopes that the elections will deepen national unity among the Iraqis whose national fabric was torn down by the ethnic conflicts.
• The Elections Network in the Arab Region urges the application of the principles of transparency and holding to accountability the officials who are suspected of corruption. It also urges the introduction of mechanisms that can guarantee fairness and transparency concerning the system governing government posts. This would minimize the loss of dozens of victims in the fierce conflicts to win the elections. These conflicts erupt for the purpose of benefiting from the great gains guaranteed by membership in these councils.
• The Elections Network in the Arab Region has concluded that the slogan of national reconciliation was not given a priority or sufficient attention by the major Iraqi political blocs despite the fact that lack of national reconciliation could lead to the continued acts of violence and sectarian and ideological conflicts. Millions of Iraqis are still living without the minimum requirements of personal safety. Moreover, they are living under harsh conditions of lack of electricity, jobs, and health care. Therefore, the Elections Network hopes that the main slogans of election competition would be an invitation to unity and cohesion among the Iraqi citizens.
• The Elections Network in the Arab Region has noticed from the remarks and comments it has gathered during the election campaign that there were many election violations by the political blocs. Therefore, the Network recommends that deterrent and effective measures be taken against the contraveners and that these measures should be deterrent and effective enough to secure the fairness of the electoral process.

Proceeding from the right of each person to participate in the management of the affairs of government through free and fair elections and in view of the importance of this right, particularly that it is one of the basic human rights which should be enjoyed without discrimination, the Elections Network in the Arab Region has decided to participate in watching the elections of the councils of the Iraqi governorates. The Elections Network in the Arab Region, which was formed in 2006, is a regional organization headquartered in the Jordanian capital of Amman. More than 50 non-government civil society organizations from 15 Arab countries are members of the Network.

Depending on its own financing, the Network provided a team to serve as international observers to watch the recent Yemeni presidential elections and the elections of the 15^th Jordanian House of Representatives. The Network has also participated in watching the Kuwaiti, Bahraini, and Mauritanian parliamentary elections by designating local teams for watching these elections, all the more so because the laws of these countries do not allow international observers to function on their territories.

The Team of the Elections Network in the Arab World for Watching the Elections in Iraq in Cooperation with the Shams Network for Monitoring the Elections in Iraq.

Date: 03 February 2009.