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Election law of governorates councils
 

Based on what the House of Representatives has passed in accordance with the provisions of article (61/first), and based on the item "fourth" of article (122), and provisions of clause (b) of item "fifth", article (138) of the Constitution.

The Presidency Council has decided in its meeting convened on 08/10/2008 to issue the following law:

No. (36), for 2008

Election law of governorates, districts and sub-districts councils

Chapter I

Article 6

First: the elections of governorates councils shall be conducted at a first stage, provided that the elections of districts and sub-districts councils are conducted at a second stage within six months as from the first stage.

Second: certain polling centers shall be appropriated to the displaced at their place of presence for the purpose of casting their votes for their candidates in the areas from which they were driven out, and as such the Commissariat shall identify the mechanism of their registration under instructions.


Chapter III

Article 9
Nomination shall be in accordance with the open-list system

Article 10
The number of candidates shall not exceed in the list the number of seats appropriated to the constituency

Article 11
No entity whatsoever shall be allowed at any time to take back the seat of the winner candidate allocated to him

Article 12
First: voting shall be in person and confidential

Article 13
First: valid votes obtained by the open-list in the constituency shall be joined and divided by the electoral denominator to determine the number of seats allocated to such list.

Second: seats will be distributed to candidates of the open-list and thus the sequence of candidates will be re-arranged based on the number of votes gained by the candidate, and the first winner will be the one who obtained the highest number of votes within the open-list, and such like for the rest of candidates provided that a woman shall come after every three winner candidates irrespective of the winner men.

Third: votes which were gained by the list shall be distributed to the candidates of the list according to clause (second) above.

Fourth: candidates of individual lists should obtain the equivalent of electoral denominator at least in order to win the seat, while the votes of individual list candidates in excess of the electoral denominator shall be disregarded.

Fifth: vacant seats, if available, shall be given to the winning open lists that got the highest number of votes in proportion to what it got of seats to complement all seats allocated to the constituency.

Article 14

First: in the case where two candidates or more of different lists got equal valid votes and ranked the last in the constituency the Commissariat shall draw lots between them to determine the winner.

Second: in the case where two candidates or more of the same electoral list got equal valid votes and ranked the last in the constituency then the sequence adopted by the political entity shall be approved in the electoral list to identify the winner of electoral seat.

Article 15

First: in the case where the council member has lost his seat for whatever reason then the next candidate in the number of votes in the same list will take his place, and if the member was in a solo list then make-up elections will be conducted within the same constituency.  

Chapter IV
Voters' register

Article 16

First: Commissariat shall register the voters who are eligible according to requirements provided for in this law.

Second: Commissariat shall undertake to prepare and update the voters' initial register in cooperation and coordination with regions and governorates offices affiliated to it.

Third: every person eligible to vote may request his name be registered in the initial voters' register and he may examine the register to make sure of his registration.

Fourth: registration will be made in person or under the Commissariat's instructions.

Fifth: voter may not be registered in more than one constituency.   

Article 17

First: Commissariat shall adopt establishing the register of voters and determine the number of constituency seats relying on the latest statistical database of the Ministry of Trade related to ration card until the general census is conducted.

Article 18

Voters register shall be displayed by the Commissariat and for every constituency in which names of voters are listed alphabetically, in a prominent place in every registration center for easy reference.

Article 19

First: everyone whose name is not on the voters' initial register or with improper data record may submit an objection to the Commissariat main office or any branches thereof in the governorates to have his name entered or corrected accordingly.

Second: objection shall be presented in writing according to this law during a period determined by the Commissariat starting form the date of displaying the voters' initial register in the constituencies.


Chapter V
Constituencies

Article 21

Each voter may practice his election right in person in the constituency in which he is registered subject to provisions of article (18) hereof.

Article 22

First: each governorate shall be, according to official administrative bounds, one constituency in the elections of governorate councils.

Second: every district and sub-district, according to official administrative bounds, one constituency in the elections of districts and sub-districts councils.

Chapter VI
Election campaign

Article 27

Free election campaign is a guaranteed right of the candidate under the provisions of this law beginning from the date of his official acceptance as a candidate and ends 24 hrs before the elections are effected.


Article 28:

Election campaign shall be exempt of any fees

Article 29

First: Baghdad municipality and other concerned municipalities in the governorates may identify, in coordination with the Commissariat, the places where it is prevented to exercise electoral campaigns, plaster electoral advertisement throughout the period preceding the day fixed for elections, and also, it is prohibited to publish any advertisement, programs or candidate photos at the polling stations.

Second: political entities participating in the elections shall remove all elections posters and in accordance with the instructions released by the Commissariat.

Article 23

Employees of state departments and local authorities may not utilize their job influence or state resources, instruments or apparatuses in favor of themselves or for any other candidate, including its security and military apparatuses in the election campaigns or sway the voters.

Article 33

First: it is prohibited for any party, group, organization, entity, individuals or side to practice any form of lobbying, intimidation, judging as disbeliever, mistrusting, suggesting allures, giving material or moral gains, or promising them.  

Second: any party or political entity retaining armed militia shall be denied participation in the elections.

Third: any political entity shall be denied participation in the elections and counting of votes in the case he closed any election area by force or threatened to use force in his favor or against the other.

Article 36

It is forbidden to spend on election campaign from public money or from the ministries' budget, funds of endowment, or from external monetary aid.

Chapter VII
Electoral crimes

Article 38

Each one of the following shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than six months and a fine not less than ID 100,000, and not more than ID 500,000:

First: deliberate insertion of a name or names or fake characters in the voters' lists, or non-insertion of a name contrary to provisions of this law.

Second: deliberate insertion of his name or another's name without having the legal prerequisites, and yet was proved that he knew about that, and also anyone who deliberately inserted his name or another's name or omitted it altogether.

Third: he who voted in the election while he knew that his name was inserted therein contrary to law, or that he lost the legal requirements in using his right to elections.

Fourth: he who voted intentionally in the name of another

Fifth: he who divulged the secret of a voter's poll without the latter's consent

Sixth: he who used his own right to an election more than once

Seventh: he who changed a voter's will and wrote a name or marked a symbol not intended by the voter, or stood in the way of any voter to ban him exercises his electoral right.

Article 39
He shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year who:

First: used force or threat to prevent a voter from using his right and force him vote in a certain way or abstain from voting.

Sixth: insulted, slandered or beat the election commission or any member thereof during the process of election.

Seventh: tempered with ballot boxes, electoral tables or any election-related documents.

Article 40

He shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year and a fine not less than ID 100,000, and not more than IR 500,000 who:

First: acquired, concealed or wasted, damaged, stole or marred ballots, voters' tables or changed their results in any possible way.



Chapter VIII
General and final provisions

Article 46

First: the date of elections shall be determined by an order from the Council of Ministers upon a proposal from the Commissariat to be announced thru different media 60 days prior to deadline.

Second: voting shall be conducted in one day for the governorates councils

Third: in the case the elections were adjourned the councils of governorates, districts and sub-districts shall continue running their affairs until new councils are elected.

Article 47
The process of ballot by the military and members of internal security forces shall be carried out at special polling stations determined by the Commissariat in coordination with the concerned ministries

Article 50:

This law shall be enforced as from its date of ratification by the Council of Presidency

Article 51:

The Commissariat shall set, and according to its technical capabilities, a date to rum the elections but not later than 31/1/2009.

Explanatory statement

For the purpose of running free and fair elections in all governorates, districts and sub-districts, and for the elections to be democratic away from external influences, and in order to elevate these elections to the level desired.