Vote of no-confidence for national
meet By Charles Recknagel
It
was clear that Iraq's National Conference was not going
to satisfy everybody as it went into an unscheduled
fourth day on Thursday. Some delegates independent of
the main parties making up the interim government left
the conference in protest over what they said was the
big parties' dominance of the proceedings.
It
chose 81 people to fill the majority of seats on a new
advisory council to oversee the interim government
pending elections next year. But the council members
were selected, not elected in a vote among the 1,300
delegates, as initially planned. Some critics say that
process assures the advisory council will mostly be a
reflection of the government itself, with little room
for independent voices.
Jawdat al-Obeidi was
among the protesters. "We represent al-Multaka
Democratic Party. We decided to withdraw from the
[National] Conference because the parties in power
dominated the proceedings. The high preparatory
committee of the National Conference cannot solve the
problems, such as the domination of the government
parties. We decided to withdraw from the process because
it was illegitimate, and it does not represent the
composition of Iraqi society," al-Obeidi said.
The independents were upset because nothing
about the conference's main order of business - electing
a first "people's" council to advise the government -
seemed to be going as anticipated.
As conference
delegates rose up to make impassioned speeches about
events in Najaf - and the convention even dispatched a
delegation to try to negotiate a truce there - the
election of a new Interim National Council bogged down
in procedural wrangling.
Under the conference
rules, the delegates were to vote on candidates for 81
seats on the advisory council, and candidates would need
a 65% majority to win. The remaining 19 seats on the
100-member council were reserved for members of the
former US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council.
But
as delegates first quarreled over whether candidates
should be elected separately or by lists - then set
about drawing up competing lists - the proceedings
became more confused.
Some lists were ruled out
of order by conference organizers because they did not
meet minimum representation requirements for women.
Other lists were withdrawn by the sponsors themselves
when it became clear they could not muster enough votes
to win.
Late on Thursday, the conference
organizers decided time had run out. With no lists
compiled by the delegates remaining in the competition,
the organizers turned to a list endorsed by parties
involved in the interim government as the sole contender
for majority support. But instead of putting it to a
vote, they declared it the winner by default.
That solution ended the conference, but left
many delegates contending that Iraq's first experiment
in participatory politics had been hijacked by the
parties already in power.
Ismael Zayer is editor
in chief of Iraq's New Sabah newspaper and one of the
conference delegates. He says the waiving of the vote
predetermined the conference's outcome: "We didn't have
the chance to put the candidates names in [the
organizers' prepared list]. We had two choices. Either
we go to the hall where the big parties prevail or we
have a vote to achieve consensus for this list," Zayer
said.
Critics of the proceedings say the default
adoption of the government-backed list assures that the
advisory council will essentially mirror the government
itself.
But some observers say the council's
makeup will be wider than just the parties in power.
Mahmud Uthman, a former Iraqi Governing Council member
and an independent Kurdish activist, spoke to Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
"Well, the
process, which was conducted in this way, gives a
broader base to the government, but the list which was
elected, of course, it has [a] majority [which], I
think, are from the same parties who were in the
Governing Council and who are now in the government,"
Uthman said. He continued: "It is a step forward, I
think. But I don't think you could call it a real
democratic thing and [say that] everybody is satisfied."
A spokesman for one of the parties participating
in the interim government, the Shi'ite-based Supreme
Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI),
disputed charges that there was government domination of
the council selection process.
Saad J Qindeel,
deputy head of SCIRI's political bureau, told RFE/RL's
stringer in Baghdad, Sami Alkhoja, "We have 81 people
[to choose for the advisory council], and the parties
demanding to sit on it could reach 200 or more. So, it
is hard to satisfy all the parties because one can't
have all of them participating in the list. The result
is that the coalition will have part of these seats, not
all, and it is natural that the main political parties
should play a big role. If you call this domination ...
I don't call it domination, I call it democracy."
The Interim National Council is intended to hear
the views of citizens and to inform and question the
government on policy issues. It will be empowered to
veto government decrees by a two-thirds majority of its
members. It will also have the right to approve the 2005
Iraqi national budget.
The council - like the
interim government - is to function until the election
of a new transitional government in January.
The
creation of the Interim National Council is part of the
plan for Iraq's political transition endorsed by the
United Nations in a resolution in June. The resolution
called for the "convening of a national conference
reflecting the diversity of Iraqi society" and for the
national conference "to select a consultative council".
The extent to which the delegates to the
conference reflected Iraq's diversity was the subject of
considerable debate in the run-up to the convention.
Many political independents charged the parties in power
with dominating the delegate selection process, which
was non-elective. Delegates were nominated by the
country's political and religious groups, tribes and
civil associations.
Those complaints prompted
political advisers from the UN to ask organizers to
invite 300 additional people at the last minute. Many of
these additional delegates were from religious and
ethnic groups deemed to be underrepresented.
(RFE/RL's Bruce Jacobs contributed to this
report.)
Copyright (c) 2004, RFE/RL Inc.
Reprinted with the permission of Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut
Ave NW, Washington DC 20036
