News Analysis
By Ali Latif & Ali Razzaq
March 29, 2005
Negotiations
for new Iraqi government delayed by divisions within the
Kurdish list
Following
the success of the first democratic elections in Iraq for
over 50 years, a government is yet to be formed as the winning
United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) continues negotiations with
the Kurdish list.
For
six weeks following the election results the Kurdish list
has used the issues of Kirkuk, right of return for refugees
and the Peshmerga militia as a smoke-screen to cover-up
a power struggle that has emerged between Barazani and Talabani.
These issues have already been
addressed in detail in the Transitional Administrative Law,
and therefore these 10-month-old issues have been raised
again as delay tactics to buy the two Kurdish parties time
to settle their differences. With Talabani set to take the
presidency, Barazani has
been left feeling sidelined. In an attempt to resolve the
power struggle amongst them, the Kurdish list is now demanding
a share in government that is much greater than their proportion
of votes in the January elections – to appease Barazani’s
KDP with several important positions in government. In addition
to the presidency, the Kurdish list is now demanding: 1)
the Deputy Prime Minister post, 2) for the Deputy Prime
Minister to have equal powers as the Prime Minister, 3)
two out of the five major ministries (Interior, Foreign,
Oil, Defence and Finance) – which would mean that one
ministry would go to a Sunni leaving the UIA, which attained
more than twice the votes of the Kurdish list, with two
major ministries as well.
A
non-democratic presence in an elected assembly
A point
of concern regarding the inaugural meeting of the national
assembly was the presence
of political figures who failed to get elected
in the recent elections. The presence of individuals such
as Adnan Pachachi, Naseer Chaderchi and Ali ibn Al-Hussain
sends a non-democratic signal to the 8.5 million who risked
their lives to vote, somewhat undermining the legitimacy
of the elections and undoubtedly fuelling conspiracy theories.
Whilst it is unclear as to why they were allowed to attend
the meeting, this should certainly not become a permanent
feature and someone’s presence in either the parliament
or cabinet should be solely based on having been elected
– expecting anything less would undermine the very
principles of democracy.
Drafting
the constitution
The
delay in the political process is eating away into the already
tight constitutional drafting timetable and a rushed drafting
process, for a document of such significance, is clearly
of no benefit to anyone. An equally important aspect of
the constitutional-drafting process is its transparency
and ability to take popular opinion into account. With a
public referendum deciding the constitution's ultimate fate,
a mechanism for public consultation needs to be formally
agreed upon without delay. Rather than a draft being produced
behind closed doors and modelled
on the TAL, the elected assembly owes it to the
Iraqi people to produce a constitution that is best able
to safeguard the country's democratic future.
