Iraqi News Thursday PM 10-7-21
Iraqi News Thursday PM 10-7-21
TLM724 Administrator BondLady’s Corner
The Associated Press: The Majority Of Iraqi Voters Are From A Frustrated Young Generation That Is Not Satisfied With The Promises Of The Candidates
Posted on 2021-10-07 by Sotaliraq Translation / Hamed Ahmed At a hotel hall in the city of Basra, a young candidate for one of the electoral lists stands among other candidates within his constituency as he addresses a group of attendees, including independents and others optimistic, who came from the protest squares that swept the streets two years ago with angry demonstrators against high unemployment rates, government corruption and the absence of basic services Including electricity and water.
Addressing the electorate, the candidate said that if he was elected, he would do his best for their rights, but unexpectedly one of the attendees stood up, interrupting the candidate's words by saying, "You paint rosy dreams for us, but I am not convinced to vote for you," followed by applause from the audience.
This scene highlights the difficulties that candidates will face in persuading voters to vote for them. They are addressing a frustrated and desperate young generation, which constitutes the largest proportion of the country's population, in order to convince them of the electoral process that was previously marred by attempts at manipulation and fraud.
Voting inaction and distrust are widespread, and some of the same pro-reform activists whose protests led to these elections are now calling for a boycott of them after a series of intimidation and killings.
And one of the activist candidates in Basra admits, “The elections will not be good,” but he pointed out that even if they achieved an improvement over the previous elections by a third, it would be “better than the current system,” stressing that voting is the only way to change.
An independent candidate from Basra says, “We have a new generation of people born after 2001 who are eligible to vote now. I count on this generation."
Increasing the number of electoral districts allows for better local representation and gives independents more chances to win. In addition, 70% of registered voters will use biometric cards, through which it is forbidden to vote more than once, as happened in the 2018 elections. Only 44% of those voting participated in those elections, which is the lowest since the first elections held after 2003.
Election law changes failed to achieve the protesters' demands. Activists called for more small electoral districts, but after 11 months of discussions and discussions, parliamentarians agreed on 83 electoral districts instead of 18. Facilities were placed within this map for women's participation, including 25% of the 329 seats in parliament.
Smaller areas are also in the interest of powerful local clans and religious figures, and the major parties have already formed alliances with them.
Despite this, the new law paved the way for new parties that emerged from the protest movement, which is expected to do well in governorates that witnessed major protests such as Nasiriyah, one of whose candidates says he will work to gradually weaken the existing political system. On the other hand, the new electoral law has also helped better parties and large influential blocs, whose followers hope to achieve higher percentages of seats during the elections.
Wissam Adnan, a Basra resident who created a social media platform to provide job opportunities for the unemployed in the city, told the Associated Press, “None of the politicians in power have made any changes to the people, and that is why why do we vote for them?”
This is one of the views of the general public from the people of Basra, which, despite its oil wealth, is mired in poverty, unemployment, dilapidated infrastructure that does not bring potable water, as well as chronic power cuts.
Randa Salem, a researcher from the Washington Institute for Middle East Studies, says, “Since there is an absence of convincing alternatives, with a feeling among Iraqis that the political system is not implementing reforms, the option not to vote may be the only way to express their rejection of the status quo.”
Nearly 600 people were killed in the 2019 protests known as the October uprising, in which security forces used live ammunition and tear gas canisters to disperse crowds of demonstrators.
The popular protests subsided after a few months due to the repression and the spread of the Corona virus epidemic. However, since that time, approximately 35 people have been killed in targeted killings of activists, protest organizers and independent candidates, creating an atmosphere of terror and intimidation. According to the Iraqi Human Rights Commission, 82 people were also wounded as a result of assassination attempts carried out by armed groups.
More calls were raised to boycott the elections, especially after the assassination of a prominent activist in Karbala, Ihab al-Wazani, during this summer.
The United Nations has adopted an unprecedented monitoring mission, which many hope will boost voter turnout, and that the Iraqi Electoral Commission is working to comprehensively correct the flaws and loopholes that have been exploited by elite parties. However, some of the parties resort to other tactics and methods to buy the votes of the voters through promises of providing a job or giving cash.
One of the candidates said that people ask us to pave streets and provide electricity, pointing out that some of the candidates provide food to people in order to get their votes, or take personal information from them for promises of employment when they are elected.
The candidate adds, "This created confusion for us in the nature of the work we are supposed to do, and then we do not know how we will talk to people."
For months, the United Nations has been providing the Iraqi Electoral Commission with technical assistance to close any loopholes exploited by the parties. According to three UN officials, a key point to prevent chances of tampering is that boxes are not moved before they are initially counted at their individual voting station. LINK
Lack Of Quorum And Late Evening Sessions.. The House Of Representatives Officially Ends The Work Of Its Fourth Session
Thursday 07, October 2021 09:54 | Reports and investigations Number of readings: 939
Baghdad / NINA / ... Youssef Salman: With the shining hours of this Thursday morning, the House of Representatives officially drops the curtain on the work of its fourth legislative session, in preparation for running in the parliamentary elections scheduled for next Sunday, the tenth of October.
As the Presidency of the House of Representatives decided to terminate the membership of representatives of its fourth legislative session, due to the end of the working period of the parliamentary session on today, Thursday, October 7, 2021, and issued an official parliamentary order to terminate the membership of 324 deputies out of 329, in implementation of a previous decision taken by the House of Representatives, in its session held At the end of last March, it dissolved itself on the seventh of October.
The House of Representatives voted, in its evening session held at the end of last March, to dissolve Parliament on October 7, 2021, provided that the elections will be held on their scheduled date on the tenth of the current October, after leaders and heads of political blocs announced, on March 20, that they had submitted a request. An official attached with the signatures of more than 172 deputies to dissolve the House of Representatives one day before the date of the elections.
With the entry into force of the decision to dissolve the House of Representatives today, Thursday, the series of parliamentary meetings of representatives of the political blocs that were accompanied by the suspension of parliament sessions for a short period, exceeding the ceiling of its last legislative recess, which was scheduled to officially end on the third of last September.
Mathematically, the House of Representatives held its regular session No. 4 of the second legislative term, for the third legislative year, on Tuesday, July 13th, in which the Presidency of Parliament decided to add a discussion paragraph about the tragic fire of Imam Hussein Teaching Hospital in Dhi Qar Governorate to the agenda, and also recommended hosting the government committee The special committee formed to investigate the tragedy of the fire and the governor of Dhi Qar and its security leaders the next morning, and then announced the adjournment of Parliament sessions until further notice.
Since then, the House of Representatives has not been able to reconvene its members to hold its regular sessions, despite the parliament’s presidency calling for the sessions to be held more than once, without success due to the lack of a quorum for members to attend.
Parliamentary circles and observers unanimously agreed that the lack of a quorum for the attendance of members became the most prominent factor in the work of the ended legislative session, which was also marked by the adoption of an important package of legislation in late evening sessions that extended to the early hours of dawn, while the current session witnessed the interrogation of the Chairman of the Communications and Media Commission’s Board of Trustees, Ali Khuildi and vote to dismiss him from his post.
A statistical report recently prepared by the Iraqi Parliamentary Observatory on the work of the fourth session of the House of Representatives revealed that the ended session recorded 149 sessions, none of which recorded a full quorum of members, and also witnessed voting on 92 laws enacted by the current parliament.
During the ended session, four deputies abstained from taking the constitutional oath from the first official session until the decision to dissolve parliament took effect today, Thursday, they are former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, head of the State of Law coalition Nuri al-Maliki, Governor of Basra Asaad al-Eidani, Governor of Kirkuk and Rakan al-Jubouri Agency.
According to the statistics of the Iraqi Parliamentary Monitor report, 13 deputies did not join the membership of any of the permanent parliamentary committees, and 57 deputies did not have any intervention or point of order in all sessions held by the Council of Representatives, while 31 deputies registered with only one participation during those sessions. The total work of the House of Representatives is 61 working days, and the number of working hours is 428 (seven hours).
The House of Representatives decided, in its evening session held on October 28, 2019, to dissolve the provincial councils, granting Parliament and the governors the powers to manage financial and administrative matters in the provinces, then voted on the evening of the night of November 26, 2019, on the second amendment to the Provincial Council Elections Law No. 12 of 2018, With the aim of dissolving provincial councils with a new law.
The House of Representatives voted on the new election law in its evening session, which was held on October 29, 2020, then the Presidency of the House of Representatives approved, on December 16, a parliamentary request attached to the signatures of 75 deputies from different blocs, to submit a proposal to amend the House of Representatives election law, And decided to refer it to the Parliamentary Legal Committee to mature the legal drafting.
He also voted, in its evening session held on March 18, on Article 3 and a new article of the First Amendment Law (Order No. 30 of 2005) the Federal Court Law, and then voted in total on the First Amendment Law to the Federal Supreme Court Law.
The House of Representatives also voted on the federal general budget bill 2021, in its evening session held at the end of last March./End of 5 https://ninanews.com/Website/News/Details?Key=931311
Suspension Of Official Working Hours On Sunday And Monday
Political Thursday 7 October 2021 | 04:40 PM| Number of readings: 214 Today, Thursday, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers will suspend official working hours on Sunday and Monday. And the General Secretariat said in a statement, “Based on the approval of the Prime Minister, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, the following was decided:
Disruption of official working hours, on Sunday and Monday, corresponding to the tenth and eleventh of October this year 2021, coinciding with the date of the procedure elections, and to allow the Independent High Electoral Commission to complete the logistical procedures for the voting process.
The statement added, "There should be coordination between ministries and security, service, and health departments, and between the parties concerned with the voting process, to support the electoral process."
https://aynaliraqnews.com/index.php?aa=news&id22=152627
Iraqi Joint Operations: There Are No US Military Forces In The Washington Embassy In Baghdad
Posted on 2021-10-07 by Sotaliraq Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji, spokesman for the Joint Operations Command in Iraq, confirmed today, Thursday, that there are no US military forces in the Washington embassy in Baghdad.
Al-Khafaji said during an interview with RT, "There is talk in the media about the presence of combat military forces in the American embassy in Baghdad, and this is not true."
Regarding the withdrawal of US forces, he referred to "the withdrawal of three units from the Ain al-Assad base in Anbar, as well as from the Harir base in Erbil."
Al-Khafaji added, "The duty of the Iraqi forces is to provide protection for international missions." LINK
Iraq And The UAE Sign A Contract To Build 5 Solar Power Plants
Part of signing the agreement
Energy Economy News – Baghdad Iraq and the UAE signed a contract to build 5 solar power stations, as part of the first phase, which will include the production and generation of 1,000 megawatts out of a capacity of 2,000 megawatts.
A statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, said, "A contract was signed for the construction of five electric power plants using solar energy, between the Ministry of Electricity and the National Investment Authority on the Iraqi side, and the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company on the Emirati side, as part of the first phase that It will include the production and generation of 1,000 megawatts out of a total capacity of 2,000 megawatts."
The statement added: "This step is the first practical stage taken by the government to rely on alternative, clean, and renewable energies in the production of electrical energy, and to meet Iraq's energy needs."
Views 78 Date Added 07/10/2021 https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=26535
To read more current and reliable Iraqi news please visit BondLady’s Corner: