 Why
should you care about what’s going on in Iraq? For one,
American soldiers in Iraq die almost if not everyday to see
a free state governed by its citizens. Second, somewhere along
the way your tax dollars, or those of your parents and working
family members went to pay for the war.
Looking
on from abroad Iraq’s progress is a tricky thing to
follow. From watching the news on television, glancing at
the daily newspapers, and station surfing on the radio, one
can make out that Iraq went through its first election since
the U.S. invaded it and removed its dictator Saddam Hussein.
What did you say? Oh you missed the election did you? Well
here’s what’s floating around.
58
percent of the registered voters in Iraq, about 8.56 million
people took part in the election process on January 30. As
a result, The United Iraq Alliance (UIA), a mainly Shi’a
Islamic electoral coalition supported by Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
walked away with roughly 48.1 percent, Interim Prime Minister
Ayad Allawi obtained 14 percent, and the Kurds acquired 26
percent. The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq certified
these election results on February 17.
 Although
most elections determine who will take what position Iraq’s
elections were to determine the amount of seats a person or
party would attain on Iraq’s 275-seat Transitional National
Assembly. The National Assembly must name a president, two
vice presidents, serve as Iraq’s national legislature,
and draft Iraq’s new constitution. The effect of the
February 17th official election results is that the UIA gained
140 seats in the assembly, Ayad Allawi 40 seats, and the Kurds
75 seats. The remaining 20 seats went to the other 108 political
entities who received votes out of the 256 political entities
who registered to compete in the election. Though it’s
clear that the UIA dominates the assembly they still lack
the 2/3’s majority necessary to make major decisions.
Looking
to the future, it is now up to the Assembly to draft a constitution
to be submitted for national referendum in October.
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