The
Parliamentary elections in Iraq are scheduled to be held on Wednesday April 30,2014 to decide the 328 members of the Council of Representatives who will in turn elect the Iraqi President and Prime Minister
There is heavy security
across Iraq as the country votes in its first parliamentary elections
since US troops withdrew three years ago.
Polling began at 07:00 local time (04:00 GMT) and closes at 18:00 on Wednesday April 30,2014
Some 22 million Iraqis are registered to vote, with almost 50,000 polling stations open across the country
More than 9,000 candidates are competing for 328 parliamentary seats
Political Parties
Iraq's Independent Election Commission approved 276 political entities to run in the elections.
Political entities appear on the ballot as part of a "coalition" (
kutla) and under the Constitution of Iraq the head of the largest coalition has the first call to become Prime
Minister.
However, in a precedent set following the 2010 election, a
revised coalition can be formed following the election. This reduces the
incentive for parties to form coalitions prior to the election.
The largest parties on the approved list include -
- Prime Minister's State of Law Coalition
- Sadrist Movement (Ahrar)
- President Jalal Talabani's Kurdistan Democratic Party and
- Iraqi National Accord
Significant new parties include -
- the former militant group asa'ib Ahl al-Haq and
- White Iraqiya Bloc which split from the Iraqi National Accord.
Election Campaign
The campaign is expected to focus on competition within the three
main religious and ethnic communities: Shi'ite Arabs, Sunni Arabs and
Kurds.
Shi'ite Arabs will be split between the Prime Minister's State of Law,the Sadrist Movement and Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq
The former secular/sunni Iraqiya coalition will be split between the parliamentary speaker's Mutahidoun Party, Allawi's Iraqi National Accord and al-Mutlak's Iraqi National Dialogue Front
Election Forecast
Political analysts say no party
is likely to win a majority in the 328-seat parliament and forming a
government may be hard even if Maliki's State of Law alliance, as
expected, wins the biggest number of seats.
Maliki, who is fending off challenges from Shi'ite and Sunni rivals,
has portrayed himself as his Shi'ite community’s defender against the
Sunni Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr (2nd L) holds up his ink-stained finger
after voting at a polling station during parliamentary election in
Najaf, south of Baghdad April 30, 2014.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is hoping to win a third term in office amid a growing insurgency in the west of the country.
PM Nouri al-Maliki cast his ballot in Baghdad
