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Are elections in Iraqi Kurdistan
democratic?
7.7.2010
By Kanabi Mohammed Awla —
Special to
Ekurd.net
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July
7, 2010
Following the fall, or retreat, of the Baath from
Iraqi Kurdistan in 1991, the parties of the
Kurdistan Front pretended that they were in contrast
to the Baath’s dictatorial regime by establishing a
regional democratic government through which the
people aspired to realize their national rights and
freedom. The puropse of establishing a system
different from that of the Baath was to guarantee
rights and interests of the people and to realize
political and civil freedoms. Their major stakes
were in the creation of a multiparty system and
holding general, free, equal elections in order to
establish that democracy.
From 1992 to 2010, the people of Iraqi Kurdistan
participated in two presidential elections (1992,
2009), three legislative elections (1992, 2005,
2009), one municipal election (2000 in the PUK zone,
2001 in the KDP zone), and one governorate election
(2005). These elections, which viewed a plurality of
parties and electoral lists, were viewed by most of
the Kurdish political parties, leaders, and some
foreign monitors as a pre-condition to democracy in
Iraqi Kurdistan.
The theorists of democracy consider regular, free,
equal and competitive elections as a pre- condition
to democracy. In our era, people can’t govern
themselves directly, that is why they confide their
government affairs to a group of individuals whom
they elect as their representatives. According to
John Stuart Mill, this representation is essential
for modern democracy. The American democratic
theorist Robert A. Dahl argues that elections can’t
be democratic if all the adult citizens don’t have
an equal and effective opportunity to vote and if
all votes aren’t counted as equal. This kind of vote
is a criterion of democracy. Every adult citizen
must have an equal right to participate in
elections, and vote freely in order to elect his
representative to parliament or any other council.
The existence of many electoral lists and parties
further democratizes the process, because the people
would have opportunity to prefer a certain candidate
to another one and parties aggregate citizens’
interests and regulate their will.
Iraqi Kurdistan has a multiparty system and holds
general elections, however, let’s analyze if this
multiparty system and electoral processes are
democratic or not. This Kurdish region transferred
from a single party system (the Baath Party) to a
multiparty system. This new party system lends a
democratic characteristic to the political process.
However, this multiparty system leads to chaos when
parties cause violence and combat each other,www.ekurd.net
instead of competing against each other
democratically and pacifically. Additionally, their
conflict and violence deepen the personal and
political disputes, and don’t allow to a pacific
alternation in political power to take place. In
this case, this “multiparty system” becomes the
direct cause of democracy’s collapse. In 1994, when
a civil war between the KDP and the PUK broke out,
most of the political parties became divided between
the KDP’s front and the PUK’s front. These very
parties murdered democracy and divided the region
into KDP’s and PUK’s zones, consequently Iraqi
Kurdistan region didn’t returned to its pre-war
situation when their region was united.
In the 2005 and 2009 elections, the
KDP, PUK, and other parties established a single,
broad-based electoral list of alliance. This was
done in order to avoid the violence which might take
place due to the immaturity of democratic culture in
Kurdish society ; however, the alliance didn’t give
room to political competition and opposition.
Consequently, a government without opposition was
formed. Although, in the 2009 presidential and
legislative elections, there was electoral
competition and a real political opposition was
born. Yet violence almost took place, and was only
prevented by the intelligence of some political
leaders.
Aditionally, during the electoral campaigns,
violence takes place and candidates of small and
opposition parties could be hindered to freely make
their electoral campaigns. Before the elections,
voters may be forced to vote for a certain party or
a certain candidate, and if they don’t, they may be
confronted with some problems like getting sacked
from their job or hindered from employment. Votes
may be bought in return for money or gifts. In
addition to that, on turnout day, electoral fraud
becomes regular: voting more than once, burning
electoral cards which are filled in favor of
opposition parties or candidates, and instead,
filling an enormous number of electoral cards in
favor of governing party’s candidates…etc. All these
acts make the electoral process a simple farce. So
elections are for a false legitimization of the
power of governors, and if this continues, instead
of monopolizing power, they monopolize the election.
Reports of home and foreign observers give detailed
descriptions of the violations and electoral frauds
in Iraqi Kurdistan.
We deduce that a chaotic and violent multiparty
system, as well as forced and fraudulent elections,
can’t produce a democratic process and system. This
phenomenon is a repetition of the political
processes in most of the Third World countries ; a
single party or clique takes power, often by a coup,
and doesn’t allow opposition or elections. Or, the
party or clique oppresses opposition and manipulates
elections so as to stay in power, seize the
country’s wealth, and show to the world that they
have ‘democratic legitimacy’ thanks to ‘elections.’
Africa, Arab World, and Far and Middle East
countries are full of this kind of process and
system.
In Iraqi Kurdistan, there is neither a democratic
culture, nor an independent and active civil
society, or an active and free intellectual elite.
The political culture is obedience and submission,
the civil society is dependent on parties and
government, and most of the intellectuals are either
afraid and don’t express their real opinion, or
justify and defend the regime because they benefit
from it. Iraqi Kurdistan needs political, economic,
cultural and social change.
By Kanabi Mohammed Awla for Ekurd.net, July 7,
2010. You may reach the author via email at: kanawla(a)yahoo.com
Copyright © 2010 Ekurd.net. All rights reserved
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