Independent Elections Commission of Iraq
US Congressional Action Alert
Independent Elections Commission of Iraq
May 7, 2004
On April 27, 2004, the Iraqi Governing Council announced that it is adopting recommendations created by the United Nations electoral assessment mission on the formation of the Independent Elections Commission of Iraq. The UN mission, headed by Carina Perelli, traveled to Iraq in late March to assess the requirements for free and fair elections to be held in January 2005. The Commission's task will be to prepare, conduct, and oversee the elections in accordance with the Iraqi legal framework and international election standards. The Commission will be headed by an eight-member Board of Commissioners comprising seven Iraqis and one international member. The commissioners will be nominated and later assessed through a multi-step technical evaluation process undertaken by the UN.
While the Independent Elections Commission ultimately will decide how the elections process will work in Iraq, there is a range of ways that elections have been structured in other countries to foster women's inclusion. Alternative approaches that have been used in such diverse places as Rwanda, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and East Timor involve:
- requirements that political parties nominate a certain percentage of female candidates;
- election laws that mandate that women are positioned at or near the top of ballots;
- allocation of a certain percentage or number of seats for women;
- parallel elections for women and men;
- voting requirements that call for all voters to cast ballots for men and women;
- setting aside of seats on local governing structures for representatives of women's associations; and
- reserving of seats in governing bodies for women appointees.
For additional information on mechanisms to integrate women in the electoral process, please see:
Action Point: Ensure that women are involved in the selection process and that women are elected to the Commission. It is imperative that women are included fully in all stages of the Commission's work, because they are central to the design and implementation of national elections. Women should be integrated as resources in the Commission's activities and not marginalized in the process.
Action Point: Attached are recommendations for increasing women's political participation that were generated recently by several key NGOs and think tanks involved with the reconstruction of Iraq. These recommendations can support in planning and supervising the elections. The recommendations can also be used to support Iraqi women's political representation within the Iraqi government, including a goal of 25 percent in the Iraqi National Assembly. |
We urge you or your representative to contact the following individuals to advocate for the full participation of women in the Commission and for implementation of the attached recommendations:
Ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi
Chief Representative, Special Envoy to Iraq
United Nations
Ross Mountain
Representative, Special Envoy to Iraq
Department of Political Affairs
United Nations
Carina Perelli
Director, Electoral Assessment Mission Division
United Nations
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