Politics
Independent Commission’s “independence” questioned
Monday, February 8th 2010 6:22 PM
Erbil, Feb. 8 (AKnews) – Some Kurdish and Iraqi parties are suspiciously looking at Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission’s activities, while the commission denies allegations of fraud or favoritism.
Some parties have questioned the “independence” of the Independent Electoral Commission, voicing their concern that the next parliamentary vote results might be tampered with.
Zana Rostayi of the Islamic Group (IG) of Kurdistan Region told the Independent National News Agency of Kurdistan (AKnews) that the commission “was not neutral” during the previous elections of Kurdistan, the polling stations in the region were controlled by the ruling parties, and that it facilitated fraud.
For the upcoming legislative polls, IG and two other political entities – Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and Gorran (Change) - in Kurdistan have submitted a request to the IHEC which states that directors of the polling stations “must be” lawyers, jurists, or legal workers rather than “school principals”, according to Rostayi.
The commission takes views and proposals into account, but since its board has been appointed by political agreements, the ruling entity in one area or city will constitute the commission board there, Rostayi said.
The official called for a change in the IHEC’s structure every four years, and that the commission law should be reformed in a way to guarantee the IHEC’s professionalism and neutrality.
The IHEC can be independent but the intervention of the political parties prevents this, MP in the Iraqi Parliament on the KIU list, Zuhair Khoshnaw said.
Khoshnaw believed that part of the IHEC workers have been appointed by the political entities, therefore the partisan mentality is prevailing in them who work for keeping their party’s interests.
Secretary of the Kurdistan Toilers Party, Qadir Aziz, said the commission had violated his party’s rights during the Kurdish polls by overlooking fraud, and that it is likely that it can not be independent in the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections as well.
The official and members of the IHEC have been elected according to political agreements, therefore they can not be independent, MP on the Iraqi National Accordance list, Hasan Al-Sneid, too, believed.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi MP on the Kurdistan Alliance, Ahmed Anwar – who is also a member of the Parliament’s Legal Committee - cited the punishment of some of the IHEC workers for their inclination towards a particular party during the Iraqi provincial polls and Kurdistan polls as evidence for the commission’s “independence”
For his part, Sardar Abdulkarim of the IEHC said the commission had been accredited by the Iraqi Parliament and worked under law. “IHEC workers have proved independent; they do not support any party. Any member or worker of the commission will be severely punished if found supporting any political actor during the votes”
The IHEC is Iraq's electoral commission. It was set up in May 2004 by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to begin work towards holding an election in the country. The Commission is tasked with organizing and supervising all the elections and referendums that take place in the country, in addition to dealing with complaints about the elections.
It has supervised Iraqi provincial elections of 2005, a referendum on Iraqi constitution in 2005, Iraqi Parliamentary polls in 2005, Iraqi provincial polls in 2009, and the Kurdistan Parliamentary and Presidential elections in 2009.
Next Iraqi Parliamentary polls will take place on March 7, 2010.
report by Bamandi Karim, translating and editing by Raber Younis (AKnews)
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