Protests continued in Iraq on Tuesday in opposition to a controversial amendment to the country’s electoral law that critics say will hurt smaller political parties and independents.
Background: The amendment to Iraq’s Provincial Council Elections Law, which governs regional elections, was first read in parliament in February. The amendment was proposed by the ruling Coordination Framework political bloc that includes Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. The amendment adopts the Sainte-Lague method, which is a party-list proportional representation system, to allocate seats in provincial parliaments. It also increases the size of electoral districts and stipulates just one electoral district per province. These rules were in place for Iraq’s last provincial elections in 2013.
