In the name of the people
Presidency Council
Based on what has been passed by the House of Representatives and approved by the Presidency Council, and with reference to provisions of item (first) of article 61 and items ( first, second, third and fourth) of article 49, and clause (a) of item (fifth) article 138 of the constitution.
The following law has been issued:
No. ( ) for 2009
Amendment on the law of elections no. 16 for 2005
Article: first
Article 15 of the law shall be revoked and replaced by the following:
The House of Representatives consists of a number of seats by a proportion of one seat to every one hundred thousand people according to the latest census provided by the Ministry of Trade subject to that the compensatory seats shall be included therein by 5%, and that the following constituents shall be conferred a quota from the compensatory seats but that shall not affect its proportion in the case they would participate in the national lists and as follows:
1. Christian constituent: five seats prorated to the governorates of Baghdad, Nineveh, Kirkuk, Dohuk, and Erbil.
2. Yazidi constituent: one seat in Nineveh governorate
3. Sabian Mandaeans constituent: one seat in Baghdad governorate
4. Shabak constituent: one seat in Nineveh governorate
Article: second
Each governorate, according to official administrative bounds, constitutes one constituency with a number of seats proportional to the population in the governorate according to the latest census approved for the ration card.
Article: third
The following articles shall be repealed 9, 10, 11, and 16 and replaced by the following:
First: {nomination shall be governed by the open-list method and thus the number of candidates will not be less than three and not more than twice the seats allotted to the constituency, however, the voter may poll by list or any nominee therein, and individual nomination is permissible}
Second: valid votes obtained by the list in the constituency shall be joined and divided on the electoral denominator to determine the number of seats allotted to that list.
Third: seats shall be dealt out by re-arranging the order of nominees according to number of votes each one has obtained, and thus the first winner will be who gets the highest number of votes and so on for the rest of candidates, but women proportion shall not be less than one fourth of the winners and in he case candidates votes were equal in the same list casting of lots will be consulted.
Fourth: vacant seats will be given to the winner lists that obtained a number of seats proportionate to what they have gotten of votes.
Article: fourth
Special poll and includes:
First: military from members of the Ministry of Defense, the Interior, and all other security institutions: their method of voting shall be according to special procedures established by the Independent Higher Commissariat wherein official lists including the names and locations are used, and thus entities above shall submit these lists not less than 60 days from the date of running the elections, and according to them their names will be removed from the voters' register. However, if the said lists were not sent, those members shall vote in the framework of a general ballot according to voters' register.
Second: boarders, prisoners, and detainees: their voting shall depend on procedures established by the Independent Higher Commissariat for Elections based on lists submitted by the Ministries of Justice and the Interior within a period not less than 30 days before the day of polling.
Third: patients in hospitals and other rest homes: poll shall be based on lists submitted by these entities before the start of voting and according to procedures established by the Independent Higher commissariat for Elections.
Fourth: poll of the displaced
a. Displaced voter: he is the Iraqi who was forcibly displaced from his permanent residence to another place inside Iraq after 9/4/2003 for whatsoever reason.
b. The displaced shall vote according to the latest official census supplied to the Independent Higher Commissariat for Elections from the Ministry of Migration and Migrants, and the Ministry of Trade and accordingly the displaced may vote for the constituency from where they were displaced unless they had transferred the ration card to the governorate they were displaced to.
Fifth: the Independent Higher Commissariat for Elections may set up the instructions for abroad poll.
Article: fifth
First: provisions contained in chapters VI and VII of law no. 36 for 2008 shall apply to elections of the House of Representatives members.
Second: the nominee may demand the Commissariat center of the governorate to give him the number of votes he gained.
Third: member of the House of Representatives may examine the information relating to the electoral process, ways of counting and sampling in different constituencies.
Article: sixth
First: elections shall run in Kirkuk and other governorates with questionable records in their time exceptionally.
Second: governorates with questionable records are those with an annual population growth exceeding 5%, and that questioning request shall be submitted from 50 deputies at least, with given approval from the House of Representatives by a simple majority.
Third: the House of Representatives shall form a committee from its members for Kirkuk governorate and every governorate with questionable records, consisting of representatives of the constituents of that governorate and membership of a representative of each of the Ministry of Planning, the Interior, Trade, and the Independent Higher Commissariat for Elections and with the help of the UN in order to review and check any error and increase on the voters' records in comparison with official data and standards contained in the final provisions and article "second" hereof to rectify the voters' record, and that shall be completed by the committee during a year from its inception.
Fourth: results of elections in Kirkuk governorate or any governorate with questionable records shall not be reckoned before the voters' records are fully checked as a basis for any future electoral process or a precedent to any political or administrative status.
Final provisions
Article 7
The following standards shall be used primarily to implement the provisions contained in article 6
First: the difference between the number of those entered into 2004 register before updating and the number of those registered in 2010 elections shall be adopted.
Second: the process of auditing the difference shall be conducted in "first" above and the additions for the years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009, with focus on the following:
1) population additions (births, deaths, transfer of entry from the governorate) for the period 2004 –2009
2) returning deportees according to official records
3) any other population changes during this period
Third: process of audit shall be adopted to check the validity and legality of records and other illegal cases, and thus the number of differences and what they represent of seats shall be counted
Fourth: cadre number of the House of Representatives, who represent Kirkuk or governorates with questionable records, is what will be determined, thru the population rates that will be adopted by the House after deducting the number of seats resulting from violations.
Fifth: integer numbers shall be counted on the governorate cadre while numbers outside the governorate shall be counted on the national share.
Article: Eighth
First: any provision inconsistent with the rules of this law shall be canceled
Second: this law shall be put into effect as from the date of its ratification and shall be published in the official gazette.
Explanatory statement
For the purpose of running free, democratic and fair elections in Iraq and to raise them to the level sought after in accordance with the approved international standards and popular demands, this law has been enacted.
Law of elections law amendment no. 16 for 2005 (vetoed)
House of Representatives voted on the article "first" of the bill (vetoed) and amended it to read as follows:
Article 1
Article 15 of the law shall be repealed and replaced by:
1. House of Representatives consists of a number of seats by a proportion of one seat for every 100,000 people according to the census of the Ministry of Trade for the governorates for the year 2005, and the population growth rate of 2.8% for each governorate per year shall be added to it.
2. Iraqis wherever they are shall vote for their governorate lists or candidates provided that voters outside Iraq will be subject to special poll controls.
3. The following constituents shall be given a share (quota) counted from the seats allotted to their governorates, but this should not affect their proportion in the case they might participate in the national lists and as follows:
1) Christian constituent: five seats distributed to the governorates of Baghdad, Nineveh, Kirkuk, Dohuk and Erbil.
2) Yazidi constituent: one seat in Nineveh governorate
3) Sabian Mandaeans constituent: one seat in Baghdad governorate
4) Shabak constituent: one seat in Nineveh governorate
4. A proportion of 5% of seats shall be allocated as compensatory seats dealt out to lists proportional to the seats they obtained.
5. Seats allotted from the Christians quota shall be within one constituency.
Second: the House voted in favor of rebutting the veto contained in clause "fourth", article 3 of the draft law.
