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Iraqi Elections 2010

Post-Election Guide

From Elections to a New Government

The formal process that leads from the elections to the formation of a new government in Iraq is extremely complicated and bound to take time, even without taking into consideration the difficulty of forming viable political alliances.

Latest Analysis

The Election Campaign

Iraq’s election campaign was marked by the usual mixture of unrealistic promises, verbal attacks against competitors, and attempts by parties to appropriate symbols that do not properly belong to any one faction, as well as, more worryingly, the certainty voiced by all alliances that the elections would be marred by fraud.

More on Elections:

Iraq's Vote—Only the Beginning [q&a]

Iraqi Elections Show America's Wrong Ideas about Democracy's Power [op-ed]

Annotation: Sample Ballot

When Iraqis voted on March 7, they encountered a ballot that was densely packed and had the potential to be easily misunderstood.

  Party Alliances

• Iraqi National Alliance Al-I’itilaf Al-Watani Al-Iraqi

  

  The Iraqi National Alliance is the successor of the United Iraqi Alliance, which has dominated the government since the December 2005 elections. The major difference is that the Dawa Party has left the alliance, following Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's decision to form his own State of Law coalition rather than join the INA. Rumors of impending reconciliation between the two groupings persist.

• State of Law Dawlat al-Kanoon

  

  The State of Law coalition is the embodiment of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s strategy of recasting himself as a secular, nationalist leader representing all of Iraq, rather than a Shi’i leader rooted in a religious organization.

• Iraqi National Movement Al-Haraka al-Wataniya Al-Iraqiyya

  

  The Iraqi National Movement bills itself as the major secular, non-sectarian political movement in Iraq. In reality, the Movement is based on an alliance of strong political personalities, who rely on their names and reputations rather than the strength of a political machine to attract voters.

• Unity Alliance of Iraq I’itilaf Wehdat al-Iraq

  

  The Unity Alliance of Iraq is a non-sectarian grouping of parties and individuals who portray themselves as secular nationalists. The Alliance’s main members, Interior Minister Jawad Bolani and his Constitution Party, and Ahmad Abu Risha and the Awakening Council of Iraq, considered joining Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, but could not come to agreement on terms, and ultimately went their separate ways.

• Iraqi Accord Jabahat al-Tawafuq

  

  Nominally the successor to the Iraqi Accord Front, or Tawafuq, the Iraqi Accord is a coalition of mostly Sunni organizations. It describes itself as a secular alliance, despite the fact that its major component is the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) and the major secular Sunni groups and politicians have joined other alliances.

• Kurdish Parties

  

  Iraq’s major Kurdish parties have shown no desire to join non-sectarian alliances in the 2010 parliamentary elections. Unlike every other electoral grouping, the Kurds are not trying to erect a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional façade.

 

   

A concise guide to the Iraqi electoral system