As Iraq’s provincial elections, slated for Monday December 18th, draw closer, several incidents have taken place in Iraq which have led to a growing disconnect between the citizens of Iraq and its government.
The Wedding fire issue
One of the latest was the tragic wedding fire that occurred in a Christian town, Hamdaniya, north Iraq on the 26th of September which claimed the lives of 120 people and injured many more. A government report identified fireworks as the cause of the fire and deemed the incident as accidental. The owner of the wedding hall was also criticised within the report for overcrowding his venue, allowing 900 guests in their establishment when it was designed for a maximum of 400. However, investigators have said the building had been constructed of highly flammable material and didn’t have any safety provisions such as fire extinguishers and fire exits. The Iraqi government has been heavily criticized for its gross negligence and incompetence, as the mayor and local officials didn’t ensure any safety measures were put in place and authorised the building to go into service without consulting with other public agencies. Due to this backlash, the Iraq government acted swiftly and fired many high-ranked officials, and detained around a dozen for their gross negligence, including the owner of the wedding hall and some of his employees. Having said that, some voices within the Christian community in Iraq still demand an international investigation into the fire.
First local elections since 2013
The Iraq provincial elections represent an opportunity to reflect the general mood among citizens, and an indication of potential change in the shape of the political landscape of the country, which hasn’t had provincial elections since 2013. It gives Iraq’s citizens the chance to elect representatives at local level, giving them a voice in shaping policies that affect them. According to the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), there has been an unprecedented demand from eligible citizens to update their electoral records in preparation for the upcoming elections.
IHEC recently announced that 198 political parties have formed 50 coalitions for the upcoming Iraq provincial council elections. This includes Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coalition, Ammar al Hakim’s Muwatin Coalition, the Civil Democratic Alliance, the National Azm Coalition, the Civil Forces Coalition, and the Iraqi Turkmen Coalition, as well as of course Muqtada al-Sadr’s powerful Sadrist Movement. The provincial elections will cover 15 provinces but do not include the three Kurdish regions (Dohuk, Arbil and Suleimaniyeh) who (hopefully) are running their own elections in 2024. However, it does include the province of Kirkuk which is part of the “disputed territories” between Baghdad and the Kurdish region.
The Kirkuk issue
Kirkuk is incredibly important to the election because it not only inherits an extraordinary amount of oil reserves, producing almost half of Iraq’s daily exports, but it is also the most diverse region of Iraq with comparably substantial Kurdish, Arab, and Turkman communities. However, Kirkuk is a strongly disputed area and is home to both Kurdish and Arab nationalists, resulting in a volatile and delicate political climate. Thus, the Iraq Prime Minister, Mohamad Shiaa Al Sudani’s, decision to hand back the building being used as headquarters of Kirkuk’s military command to the Kurdistan Democratic Party from whom it was taken was met with fierce resistance by some of the Arab and Turkman people of Kirkuk who say this decision must be put before the judiciary and only after the Iraq elections in December. This has led to violent clashes between Kurdish and Arab communities, resulting in several deaths. Sadly corruption in the local electoral commission has also mired Kirkuk’s elections in recent years (Kirkuk used to have an incredibly careful local electoral commission noted for its impartiality). It is to be hoped that the new local electoral commission will clean up its act this time.
While it remains interesting to see what the upcoming elections will entail, there is no doubt that they have already been clouded with tragedies and conflicts.
