Iraqi Political Will Lacking For New Electoral Law
Most observers consider it unlikely that Iraq will consider revising its electoral law ahead of the 2014 elections.
Every election season in Iraq triggers discussions of a new election law and electoral mechanisms. Questions abound as to which parties would stand to benefit or lose from such an election law or mechanism.
The Iraqi media have recently highlighted the intention of political parties to re-adopt the "closed list" system and consider Iraq as "one constituency," a system that was adopted in the 2005 elections. However, the system was abandoned in the 2010 elections in favor of the "semi-open list" system, which divides Iraq into 18 "constituencies" that represent Iraq's provinces.
These developments come as the March 2014 parliamentary elections draw near. The major political blocs in Iraq have said that they would be negatively impacted by the adoption of the so-called "Saint Lego" law in the April 2013 local government elections.
The main issue is not the Saint Lego system, which is a mere mechanism for the distribution of votes. The main problem is Iraqi political forces attempting to tailor seasonal election laws to their interests.
