If the Election Goes as Planned
Salon reporter Jill Carroll is in Baghdad, and reports on the fear of Iraqis. She also provides a succinct description of how things are supposed to proceed in the election:
David Enders provides this election primer as he reports from Baghdad for Mother Jones: There are 7,471 candidates from 111 parties for 275 slots in the national assembly and most of them have declined to provide their names to the public. Over 50 parties recently have dropped out due to the violence, but they remain on the ballot. There's another election for local councils.
If all goes as expected to plan, the Shi'ites, backed by the U.S., will win handily. It's leader, Allawi, has been dominating the airwaves to the exclusion of many other candidates. The minority Sunnis resent the U.S. occupation and support for the Shi'ites and are expected to stay home and forego voting.
More from the Salon article:
There are 75 parties and nine coalitions standing - in all, 7,471 candidates for the 275 seats - and all will be elected by proportional representation. Any candidate who receives 1/275th of the vote will get a seat. A party with 20 per cent of the vote would get 20 per cent of the seats, its 55 top-scoring candidates going to parliament. The parliament's job is to propose a constitution which will then be put before a referendum - another dangerous poll that is supposed to be held before 15 October and then - wait for it - there will be elections by 15 December to choose a new government.
Update: A Vote for Chaos (Cato Institute)
| < Iraqis Divided Over Elections | The Expat Vote > |
