The Iraqi people will go to polls on April 20th, 2013 to designate provincial councils in Iraq. 302 political groups formed 50 coalitions in order to take part in provincial councils. 8,100 candidates will compete for being elected to provincial councils. A statement by the Iraqi Council of Ministers issued on 19 March 2013 said, “the Council decided to postpone provincial elections to be held in Al-Anbar and Mosul for six months.” Therefore, the elections which were already stated to be held in 14 provinces of 18 Iraqi provinces will be held in 12 provinces due to the postponement in Mosul and Al-Anbar. Elections will not be held in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Duhok which are affiliated to Kurdistan Regional Government, as well as in Kirkuk, about which there are some disputes.
Along with political conflicts in Iraq, also the disputes on formation of new federal districts in the recent period have been shaping the Iraqi politics. Hence, the fact that local elections to be held in Iraq on April 20th, 2013 will designate provincial councils is quite important. The federal structure of Iraq grants autonomy to provincial councils in certain fields. Therefore, provincial councils play an important role in the governing process of Iraq.
As ORSAM, we believe that we have made a difference through the studies we have carried out on Iraq in particular. This is another important report that ORSAM contributed to the Iraqi studies literature. In the report, coalitions and political groups that constitute the coalitions accredited to run for elections in 14 provinces are indicated province by province. The lists of candidates to run for elections within the political groups are presented as a whole list according to provinces, political groups and coalitions. In addition, Iraqi electors will go to polls to vote 447 seats within 14 provincial councils in Iraq on April 20th, 2013. The number of seats within provincial council differs in line with the populations of provinces. The report also presents distribution of seats in provincial councils in different provinces. Furthermore, also a comparative table displaying the number of seats in local elections held in 2009 was presented. I hope that the report will be helpful for our readers who carry out specific studies on Iraq in particular.
