Iraq Going to the Polls -- Talking Points

12/8/05

December 15^th Elections

What are the elections in December for? They will be held in order to elect the Council of Representatives of Iraq. Under the new constitution of Iraq federal legislative power will rest with the Council of Representatives.

What is the legal basis of the electoral system? It is defined in the law that was adopted by the Transitional National Assembly on 13 September 2005. The reform of the electoral law used for the 30 January 2005 elections had engaged the main political groups in the TNA since early August. The current electoral law was supported by the vast majority of the TNA.

What was the role of the United Nations in the design of the electoral system? The UN strongly recommended that the system should reflect the pluralism of the Iraqi society and produce sufficient representation for minority groups and women. Throughout the process the UN offered comparisons of options used world wide.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this system? The advantage is that this system was crafted by Iraqis to fit the current situation. It is proportional, it rewards voter turn out, it encourages participation and moreover it should produce very few wasted votes. The main disadvantage is that because it was adopted very late (3 months and 2 days before the election) there is very little time for political entities, candidates, observers and voters to become familiar with it.

How does the system ensure minority representation? The system does not ensure anyone’s representation. Representation is based on the legitimacy obtained through voter support. The issue of reserved seats was discussed at length. However, given the time constraints it was felt that there was not enough time to identify who is a minority in terms of voters or candidates.

How is the presence of women secured? In the new constitution it is spelled out that at least 25% of the Parliament members must be women. As a first measure, the electoral law requires that at least one woman should be among the first 3 nominees on the candidate list for a political entity, and at least 2 women should be among the first 6 nominees on the list and so on.

Will Iraqis residing outside of Iraq be able to vote in the 15 December elections?

Yes, those eligible to vote will do so through the process called Out-of-Country Voting (OCV) in countries determined by the IECI who allow this kind of voting.

Who is eligible to vote in OCV?

Any person residing outside of Iraq is eligible to vote in OCV if he or she is:

• an Iraqi citizen or eligible to gain an Iraqi citizenship; and

• 18 years of age in the month of elections

• registered to vote in accordance with IECI procedures

To learn more, go to the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq’s website http://www.ieciraq.org/English/Frameset_english.htm

Reconstruction in Iraq

The reconstruction of Iraq has been hampered by a number of hurdles, including government bureaucracy, corruption, and security concerns, according to an October 30, 2005, report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), an independent auditor.

Among its findings, SIGIR reports of a “reconstruction gap” in Iraq: of roughly 3,200 projects initially proposed, only 1,887 have been completed, with 897 projects ongoing. Only 79 percent of the $18 billion Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF) has been committed to projects.

According to news reports and polls, the three highest priorities of everyday Iraqis are oil, electricity, and water, experts say. Numerous obstacles remain to supplying these staple items. Among them:

• Oil Much of the post-war reconstruction was supposed to be financed by oil revenues. However, daily oil production in Iraq is around 2.14 million barrels, which is less than the average 2.5 million barrels before the 2003 Iraq War.

• Electricity Roughly $4.4 billion has been spent to boost Iraq’s electricity production, yielding mixed results. According to the U.S. State Department, power generation, currently at 4,600 megawatts, has only recently exceeded the prewar level of 4,400 megawatts. That’s still shy of the 6,000 megawatt objective stated by the Coalition Provisional Authority in September 2003.

• Water In an effort to provide potable water to 90 percent of Iraqis, some $1.2 billion was allocated for water and sanitation-works projects. Yet the IRMO says just 66 percent of Iraqis have access to drinkable water. Further, the GAO report says that between $52 million and $200 million worth of water-sanitation projects were either inoperable or operating below capacity.

To read more about the report findings, go to Iraq's Reconstruction Ailments at http://www.cfr.org/publication/9185/iraqs_reconstruction_ailments.html#1

Iraq’s Oil

From the Report, “Crude Designs: The Rip-Off of Iraq’s Oil Wealth”

By Greg Muttitt

PLATFORM with Global Policy Forum, Institute for Policy Studies (New Internationalism Project), New Economics Foundation, Oil Change International and War on Want November 2005

This report reveals how an oil policy with origins in the US State Department is on course to be adopted in Iraq, soon after the December elections, with no public debate and at enormous potential cost. The policy allocates the majority of Iraq’s oilfields – accounting for at least 64% of the country’s oil reserves – for development by multinational oil companies.

Economic projections published here for the first time show that the model of oil development that is being proposed will cost Iraq hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue, while providing foreign companies with enormous profits.

Our key findings are:

• At an oil price of $40 per barrel, Iraq stands to lose between $74 billion and $194 billion over the lifetime of the proposed contracts, from only the first 12 oilfields to be developed. These estimates, based on conservative assumptions, represent between two and seven times the current Iraqi government budget.
• Under the likely terms of the contracts, oil company rates of return from investing in Iraq would range from 42% to 162%, far in excess of usual industry minimum target of around 12% return on investment.

To read the full report visit http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2005/crudedesigns.htm