| Parliament name |
Council of Representatives of Iraq |
| Structure of parliament |
Unicameral |
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
15 December 2005 |
| Timing and scope of renewal |
Elections were held for all the 275 seats in the Council of Representatives of Iraq. |
Following the approval of a new constitution by referendum in October 2005, elections for a 275-member parliament with a four-year term were held on 15 December 2005. Overseas voting for an estimated four million Iraqis was held from 13 to 15 December 2005 in 15 countries: Australia, Austria, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
As many as 6,655 candidates, 307 parties and 19 coalitions registered to participate in the elections. The main political contenders were organized along ethnic and religious lines: the Unified Iraqi Coalition, representing the Shiite community; the Kurdish Gathering (Alliance); Sunni Arabs, who had largely boycotted the January 2005 elections (when the Transitional National Assembly had been elected), represented by the Tawafoq Iraqi Front and the Hewar (Accordance) National Iraqi Front. Much media attention focused on the level of representation of the Sunni community in the future parliament.
The violence which has been rife in Iraq in recent years continued during the election process, posing considerable logistical challenges to the organization of the election. Numerous verbal and physical attacks were reported, with some candidates being killed, including a leading Sunni politician, Mr. Mizhar al-Dulaimi. Several explosions took place on election day itself.
Turnout was high nonetheless, with 79.63 per cent of 15.5 million registered voters turning out to vote. This marked a sharp increase from the 58.32 per cent turnout in the January 2005 elections.
In the capital, Baghdad, preliminary results gave the Unified Iraqi Coalition 59 per cent of votes. The Tawafoq Iraqi Front, which was a distant second with less than 19 per cent of votes, called for the election to be re-run, claiming widespread irregularities and fraud. The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) rejected the call, although it acknowledged that some violations may have occurred.
Following further protests, an international team from the International Mission for Iraqi Elections (IMIE, an independent body set up in December 2004 to monitor the general elections and the constitutional referendum in October 2005) was invited to review the work of Iraqi election officials. The team began a review of contested results on 3 January 2006 and published its final report on 19 January 2006. Although it noted certain shortcomings in the election process, the international team nevertheless concluded that the IECI had put in place measures to deter and detect violations of the electoral law.
On 10 February 2006, final results were published giving the Unified Iraqi Coalition a total of 128 seats. The two main Sunni parties, the Tawafoq Iraqi Front and the Hewar National Iraqi Front, won a total of 55 seats, followed by the Kurdistan Gathering with 53 seats. The Iraqi List of Iyad Allawi won 25, and the remaining seats went to other parties.
After numerous postponements, the new parliament held its first session on 16 March 2006. However, the session was indefinitely adjourned after just 30 minutes, as further time was required to reach agreement on how the main political positions should be filled. On 22 April 2006, the Council of Representatives reconvened and elected Mr. Mahmood D. Al-Mashhadani of the Tawafoq Iraqi Front (Iraqi Accord Front) as its new Speaker. On the same day, the Council re-elected Mr. Jalal Talabani as President of the Republic, who in return appointed Mr. Jawad al-Maliki of the Unified Iraqi Coalition, former deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Transitional National Assembly, as Prime Minister. |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 15 December 2005 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
15'568'702
12'396'631 (79.63%)
205'498
12'191'133 |
|
Notes
|
The valid votes above include out of country votes of 295,377, of which 3,006 were invalid votes. |
| Distribution of votes |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political group |
Candidates |
Votes |
|
|
% of votes |
|
|
| Unified Iraqi Coalition |
555 |
5'021'137 |
|
|
41.19 |
|
|
| Kurdistani Gathering |
|
2'642'172 |
|
|
21.67 |
|
|
| Tawafoq Iraqi Front |
618 |
1'840'216 |
|
|
15.09 |
|
|
| Iraqi List of Iyad Allawi |
731 |
977'325 |
|
|
8.02 |
|
|
| Hewar National Iraqi Front |
|
499'963 |
|
|
4.10 |
|
|
| Islamic Union of Kurdistan |
|
157'688 |
|
|
1.29 |
|
|
| Liberation and Reconciliation Gathering |
|
129'847 |
|
|
1.07 |
|
|
| Progressives |
|
145'028 |
|
|
1.19 |
|
|
| Al Ezediah Movement for Progressing and Reform |
|
21'908 |
|
|
0.18 |
|
|
| Al Rafedeen List |
|
47'263 |
|
|
0.39 |
|
|
| Mithal Al Aloosi List For Iraqi Nation |
|
32'245 |
|
|
0.26 |
|
|
| Iraqi Turkuman Front |
|
87'993 |
|
|
0.72 |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Total of seats
|
Governorate seats |
Compensatory seats |
National seats |
|
| Unified Iraqi Coalition |
128
|
109 |
0 |
19 |
|
| Kurdistani Gathering |
53
|
43 |
0 |
10 |
|
| Tawafoq Iraqi Front |
44
|
37 |
0 |
7 |
|
| Iraqi List of Iyad Allawi |
25
|
21 |
0 |
4 |
|
| Hewar National Iraqi Front |
11
|
9 |
0 |
2 |
|
| Islamic Union of Kurdistan |
5
|
4 |
0 |
1 |
|
| Liberation and Reconciliation Gathering |
3
|
3 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Progressives |
2
|
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
| Al Ezediah Movement for Progressing and Reform |
1
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Al Rafedeen List |
1
|
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
| Mithal Al Aloosi List For Iraqi Nation |
1
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Iraqi Turkuman Front |
1
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
205
70
25.45%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
|
|
|
| Comments |
Sources:
Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq
http://www.ieciraq.org/English/Frameset_english.htm |
|
