The predestination of Political Pluralism in Iraq

Shafaq News/ The satiety of the Iraqi parties has become interesting. This was revealed in the elections of 2018; then the popular demonstrations that broke out eight months ago outside the will of the existing parties, and away from their authority and strong grip, and then in the candidacy of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi and his mandate to form the government, which is coming to power without belonging to a political party represented by him.

For many, "political pluralism", which has prevailed the political life since post-invasion of the U.S. and the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, has been a rare opportunity not only for radical change in Iraq, but in the region, where multi-party is banned; and the majority tend to either monarchy, one-party

, or family rule.

Therefore, Iraq has been an unique case and an extraordinary attempt to break with Iraq's political past since the Ba’ath party returned to power on July 17th, 1963, forming the first Ba’athist government in the country's history, after crushing its opponents, whether communists, nationalists or Islamists. Since then, the one-party has dominated the reins of power in Baghdad, with no party alliances, no electoral coalitions, and no pluralistic representation governments.

The monopoly of power may have led Iraq to the disasters and calamities that have plagued Iraqis, and that is why the political pluralism that suddenly emerged after 2003, has begun to open the doors to banned and new parties, old and new opponents, clans, sectarians, and associated with financiers, businessmen, and political brokers, to conglomerate, partisanship and rally to form political parties, currents and blocs - whose goal is legitimate - to win the loyalties of the voters, win as many seats as possible in parliament, and even to government ministries.

But things got to a point of exorbitance. The parties have not proved their loyalty to their voters over the years and have relied on the primacy of the principles of quotas and favoritism to serve some followers, while the living situation of Iraqis has deteriorated from year to year. The majority of these forces and parties have been engaged in conflict among themselves, and their internal conflicts over positions and gains, and they have been preoccupied with their fear; inherited since the days of Saddam Hussein. These forces may be excluded from the scene, and have abused article 49 of the constitution, which states that "taking into account the representation of the other components of the Iraqi people", and turned it into a tool to confirm quotas and divide the spoils among themselves, rather than achieving the aspirations of the voters.

For these reasons, perhaps, things have reached a grim stage. In the last election in 2018, only 44% of voters participated in the elections. This is a significant collapse compared to the 79% turnout recorded in 2005. In an attempt to form a government to succeed Adel Abd Al-Mahdi, a figure from outside the political class, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, came into the post of Prime Ministership.

The expert on the Iraqi political affairs, Fadhil Abu Ragheef, told Shafaq News agency "Al-Kadhimi's appointment broke a barrier that the prime minister is conditioned to be chosen from the womb of political parties. On the contrary, Al-Kadhimi came with a decision that opposes the parties, and this is because of the success of the popular demonstrations to a great degree in changing the shape of the political system". Abu Ragheef also pointed out "political parties are currently trying to block any reform and change project for Al-Kadhimi, to overthrow and choose a prime minister according to the sizes of the parties".

So the last election is the lowest turnout since the fall of Saddam Hussein. After 79% participation in 2005, 62.4% in 2010, and 60% in 2014, taking into consideration the 320 registered parties, coalitions and lists, the majority of which are either religious, national or regional, which calls for the resolution of a new law for parties, after Iraq lived without such a law since the constitution of 2005 until 2015 when law 36 was passed.

But Abu Ragheef considered, "The recent parliamentary elections in Iraq have resulted in the participation of less than 20% of the Iraqi people, and for this; the current Iraqi parliament represents only 20% of the people”.

Another issue that is recorded on the current party activity in Iraq is the continuation of the process of divisions and fragmentation, which indicates the fragility of the existing party structures and its weakness that do not allow containing internal conflicts and differences.

Regarding that, the Kurdish political analyst, Yasin Aziz, told Shafaq News agency, "The theory of the parties, in general, has largely failed and the scene and even the street are looking for national figures, all parties will not disappear because they are an organizational framework linked to a group of interests, but they retreat and gather in incoherent coalitions, as is the case with the party system".

For example, the Islamic Dawa Party, which led several Iraqi governments after 2003’s invasion, now has more than one wing, one for Haider Al-Abadi and one for Nouri Al-Maliki. The internal conflict was one of the reasons for Al-Maliki's departure from power, and Al-Abadi's failure to return to a second government mandate.

Another example, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, that defected Ammar Al-Hakim to establish the "National Wisdom Movement" after internal disputes and conflicts between two different generations, the younger generation led by Ammar Al-Hakim, and the generation of old leaders in the party closest to Iran’s influence.

Yasin Aziz also said, "The abstention in the elections has several reasons, including the boredom of the repeated political faces, the loss of confidence in the parties and their slogans, the failure to implement those same slogans and promises into reality, which has made the situation worse, also the reluctance has been caused by the massive fraud that occurs in every electoral district”.

After witnessing parties and coalitions such as The Iraqi National Accord, The Iraqi National Congress, The Iraqi Islamic Party, The Organization of Muslim Scholars, The Islamic  Dawa Party, The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, The Islamic Reconciliation Party, and The Islamic Virtue Party after the post-invasion period; the names of different parties and blocs, such as Muqtada Al-Sadr’s  Alliance towards reforms which won the elections and was followed by Hadi Al-Amiri’s Al-Fateh Alliance, Haider Al-Abadi’s Victory Alliance, The State of Law Coalition, The National Iraqi Alliance, The National Wisdom Movement, and the Iraqi Decision Coalition.

Other new names have emerged, including Anbar Our Identity, The New Generation, Baghdad Alliance, Nineveh Our Identity, Arab Alliance, Turkmen Front of Kirkuk, Biarq al-Khair, and others.

The political party scene is witnessing a radical and ongoing coup in recent years, and the last parliamentary elections were a proof of this, which raises serious questions about what is going on and how the scene can develop in the future, especially now with the rise of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to the front of Iraqi political action.

Regarding the possibility of Iraq going to the leadership of the country from one party, after selecting a prime minister from outside the ruling parties, Abu Ragheef said "the political parties in Iraq are rotational parties, in the sense that they rotate themselves according to the situation, and we do not think that these parties will disappear from the political scene, on the contrary, these parties will increase, because of the divisions within the party or the alliance".

About Kurdistan’s experience, Yasin Aziz commented, "Despite the existence of many parties, the precedence and strength will remain in the hands of the two main parties, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the rest of the parties that could be a contribution to the political process, which will not exceed 10 parliamentary seats in the next phase, so they will not be competing strongly, especially since they do not have military power and do not agree on all the political positions".