On Monday, March 27, the Iraqi lawmakers passed changes to the election law that have been criticized for reducing the chances of smaller parties and independent candidates winning future elections. Many people have criticized the country’s political system as corrupt, and protests have erupted over these issues, resulting in the deaths of over 560 protesters and security personnel since 2019. The new amendments will increase the size of electoral districts and reverse key articles passed ahead of the 2021 federal election, leading to the redrawing of electoral maps to have Iraq return to one electoral district per each governorate.
The parliament, with 329 seats, passed the bill with a 206-12 vote, with several members absent. This vote followed weeks of delay due to objections from various Iraqi political blocs and independent parliamentarians who opposed the amendments. During the previous session, independent MPs who objected to the law staged a walkout, causing it to be postponed due to a lack of quorum. This time, the opposing lawmakers began protesting and disrupted the vote count before being escorted out of the parliament by security forces.
Independent MP Hadi al-Salami accused the large parties controlling parliament of trying to consolidate their power and remove independents, saying, “They want to smash us.” These amendments come after anti-government protests that demanded fairer election laws and the removal of Iraq’s ruling elite. On Saturday, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Baghdad to demonstrate against the new election law amendments.
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