Al-Anbar Council:

Chairman of the Salvation of Al-Anbar Council, Shaykh Hamid El Hayes, has declared that the members of the Iraq Awakening Conference and the Al-Anbar Salvation Council will be at the forefront of the candidates for the elections of the council of the governorate. He said that they will work to convince the dignitaries and representatives of the clans of Al-Anbar to focus their participation on resolving tribal problems without involving themselves in the political or administrative posts. He said that he will head the election list. Meanwhile, one of the leaders of the Iraqi [Accord] Tawafuq Party, Adnan El Dulaymi, said that the two parties will aspire to have free and fair elections run in the Al-Anbar Governorate.

Supervision of the federal and the local elections:
The Iraqi House of Representatives has completed preparations for forming a new commission for the Iraqi elections which will be subject to its own supervision. The new commission will succeed the Supreme Independent Commission for elections which was established by the former civil ruler of Iraq, Paul Bremer, in 2004. The House of Representatives will discuss in its next session the mandate of the new commission. The first function of the new commission will be the preparation of new lists of voters, the supervising of the federal elections and referendums, and the local elections in all parts of Iraq, which will be held in the next three months.

The new law, which was prepared by the House of Representatives’ Legal Committee, referred to its public commission the following nine chapters:

1- The abrogation of the incumbent commission whose legal term has expired.
2- Definition of the new commission.
3- The departments of the commission.
4- The powers of the Board of Commissioners.
5- The electoral administration.
6- Replacement of members.
7- Rights of members.
8- Complaints.
9- Final provisions: in addition to the reasons justifying the formation of the new commission.

A new law that is different from the previous law:
The House of Representatives discussed the new law after it was reviewed by the new legal committee of the House following elaborate discussions in which differences surfaced. These differences almost obstructed the agreement on the chapters of the law. Certain parliamentary blocs requested to see the provision in the law to establish independent commissions in the districts intended to be established. There were objections which warned that this matter would place these commissions under the hegemony of the authorities of these districts, and this would affect the credibility of the results of any elections held there.

The new law kept the former name of the commission, namely, the Supreme Independent Commission for the elections. However, some articles of the law were different from the previous law. While the former commission was completely independent in it work, the new commission will be subject to the supervision of the House of Representatives. Moreover, it will be the House of Representatives that will choose the members of the Council of the Commissioners of the Commission by voting. Earlier commissioners were appointed by the former US civil governor of Iraq, Paul Bremer.

The previous law did not allow the dismissal of any commissioner from the commission, while the new law stipulates that this is possible with the approval of the House of Representatives by the simple majority. The new law also allows the House of Representatives to dismiss the Council of Commissioners collectively or individually if they are proven to have committed legal violations while no authority could dismiss any member of the former commission.

Members of the former commission held the rank of cabinet minister while the new members will hold the rank of director general. On the general budget of the commission, the new law stipulates that it would be part of the general budget of the state while the budget of the former commission was allocated according to proposals made by the United Nations and the commission itself and totaled $612 million USD, which was spent on holding general elections and a referendum on the constitution in the last three years.

Obstacles that have impeded the new law:

There were obstacles which forestalled the issuance of the law in the last three months when the legal cover of the former commission expired. The first of these obstacles was the ongoing preparations to establish the Iraqi districts after the recent approval of their law. Certain political blocs requested the establishment of an independent commission for the elections in each district in order to supervise the elections of the local councils of the districts. This caused the United Nations and the US embassy in Baghdad to express reservations, such as that they feared that these commissions would fall under the influence of the political parties that will rule the districts.

The second obstacle involved the choice of the members of the new Council of Commissioners. A proposal was made to form a committee consisting of all the parliamentary blocs to make this choice. However, there were objections to the proposal. Another proposal suggested that the committee be formed from the main blocs in the House of Representatives. There were two other proposals that the choice be made by the presidential office, and that the council should have a Kurdish president, a Sunni deputy, and a Shiite deputy.

Members of the Council of the Election Commission asserted the need and significance of forming the new commission because the current commission had no longer any legal cover and could not continue to do its duties in Iraq and outside. They pointed out that the House of Representatives extended the term of the Election Commission three times since the expiry of its mandate. They said that the first extension took place on May 10 and lasted for three months. The second extension took place on August 10, and lasted for two months. The third extension was for one month and expired on the 10th of September. Ever since that time the commission has existed without any legal cover and therefore, it could not continue to function until a new council has been chosen for it.

The members of the council also asserted the significance of expediting the approval of the new law because it was improper to keep the commission without legal cover because it has important functions to complete. Foremost of these functions is to prepare an updated election list of the voters to prepare for the upcoming elections of the councils of governorates. They explained that there are other tasks to be completed such as the appointment of the staff of the commission all over Iraq, totaling about 1,000, in addition to holding training sessions on running elections, participation in sessions that would be held abroad for the same purpose, referenda on the constitution, and the local council elections to be held in the 18 Iraqi governorates.

Hot preparations for the election of the Councils of Governorates:

Iraqi sources have expressed real fears that the bloody conditions prevailing in the country might escalate in more than one Iraqi governorate as a result of the preparations for local council elections. These elections will allow the winner to exercise wide-ranging political, financial and security hegemony over the affairs of the government in a manner that is bigger than the control of the government over these aspects. Meanwhile, an atmosphere of clear political and security congestion prevails in Iraq while the political forces are ready to mobilize to hold the elections of their local councils in December 2007.