Following the ratification of the Constitution of Iraq on October 15, 2005, a general election was held on 15 December to elect a permanent 275-member Iraqi Council of Representatives.

The elections took place under a list system, whereby voters chose from a list of parties and coalitions. 230 seats were apportioned among Iraq's 18 governorates based on the number of registered voters in each as of the January 2005 elections, including 59 seats for Baghdad Governorate.[1] The seats within each governorate were allocated to lists through a system of Proportional Representation. An additional 45 "compensatory" seats were allocated to those parties whose percentage of the national vote total (including out of country votes) exceeds the percentage of the 275 total seats that they have been allocated. Women were required to occupy 25% of the 275 seats.[2] The change in the voting system will give more weight to Arab Sunni voters, who make up most of the voters in several provinces. It was expected that these provinces would thus return mostly Sunni Arab representatives, after most Sunnis boycotted the last election.

Turnout was high (79.6%). The White House was encouraged by the relatively low levels of violence during polling,[3] with one insurgent group making good on a promised election day moratorium on attacks, even going so far as to guard the voters from attack.[4] President Bush frequently pointed to the election as a sign of progress in rebuilding Iraq. However, post-election violence threatened to plunge the nation into civil war, before the situation began to calm in 2007. The election results themselves produced a shaky coalition government headed by Nouri al-Maliki.

Full results

Final uncertified results were released by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq on Friday 20 January 2006. Certified results are expected to be released within two weeks, after the adjudication of any appeals and after lists have submitted the names of people who will take the seats. [5]

Iraq

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Iraq

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e • d Summary of the 15 December 2005 Council of Representatives of Iraq election results Alliances and parties Votes % Seats +/–
United Iraqi Alliance 5,021,137 41.2 128 –12
Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan 2,642,172 21.7 53 –22
Iraqi Accord Front 1,840,216 15.1 44 +44
Iraqi National List 977,325 8.0 25 –15
Iraqi National Dialogue Front 499,963 4.1 11 +11
Kurdistan Islamic Union¹ 157,688 1.3 5 +5
The Upholders of the Message (Al-Risaliyun) 145,028 1.2 2 +2
Reconciliation and Liberation Bloc 129,847 1.1 3 +2
Turkmen Front 87,993 0.7 1 –2
Rafidain List 47,263 0.4 1 ±0
Mithal al-Alusi List 32,245 0.3 1 +1
Yazidi Movement for Reform and Progress 21,908 0.2 1 +1
National Independent Cadres and Elites   0 –3
Islamic Action Organization In Iraq - Central Command   0 –2
National Democratic Alliance   0 –1
Total (turnout 79.6 %) 12,396,631   275 —

¹The KIU contested the previous election as part of the main Kurdish alliance.

Split of United Iraqi Alliance seats by party [1][2] (includes 2 members from The Upholders of the Message who caucus with the UIA) Party District Seats Compensatory Seats Total
SIIC & Badr Organization 21 15 36
Sadrist Movement 27 2 29
Islamic Virtue Party 14 1 15
Islamic Dawa Party 13 0 13
Islamic Dawa Party - Iraq Organisation 12 0 12
Independents and others 24 1 25
Total 111 19 130

See also : Members of the 1st Iraqi Council of Representatives

New government

After six months of negotiations a "government of national unity" was agreed between the United Iraqi Alliance, Iraqi Accord Front, Kurdistani Alliance and Iraqi National List, under the leadership of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Impact of election

The election is expected to have a significant impact on the politics of Iraq. Most significant developments are expected to be:

Removal of coalition soldiers from Iraq

According to an opinion poll carried out for the British Ministry of Defence in August 2005 by Iraqi university researchers and leaked to the British press, 82 per cent of Iraqis are strongly opposed to the presence of US and other coalition troops and less than one per cent believe that the coalition troops are responsible for any improvement in security. [6]

Broadening of political space

This election will see the participation of two important groups - the Sunnis and the Sadrists - who did not participate significantly in the prior legislative elections. The domestic component of the insurgency has been linked to both groups.

Debate over Federalism and Secession

The elected Council of Representatives will have the difficult task of ratifying a constitution. The initial debate is likely to focus on the power of a centralized government versus a more localised power structure, in particular including policies surrounding oil and other natural resources, security and civil services.

Increased choice within communities

All three main communities will go into these elections with at least two significant coalitions to choose from. Parties have split from both the main Shi'a and Kurdish coalitions and two lists from the Sunni community are tipped to win significant support in that community.

Anti-incumbency vote

The main competition in the last election within the majority Shi'a community was between the secular outgoing Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, and the United Iraqi Alliance which was backed by the religious authorities. This time the religious authorities have refused to back the Alliance and this may be influential in persuading some Shi'a to consider supporting Allawi. However, religious voters may prefer to vote for Sadr rather than casting their vote for Allawi, who is considered pro-American.

Averting a Civil War

Some predicted that if there wasn't a balance of representation between Sunnis and Shias, that the country was at risk of increased insurgency and perhaps civil war. The current insurgency, lacking the command and control infrastructure needed for large scale military operations, is not equipped to stage more than a haphazard guerrilla campaign. The withdrawal of 150,000 U.S. and British troops on the ground in Iraq, as desired by about 82 percent of Iraqis, is likely to remove motivation for internal Iraqi conflict, since only about one percent of Iraqis believe that the coalition troops are responsible for any improvements in security in Iraq.[6] According to an interview with Rajaa al-Bhayesh, a political scientist at Baghdad's Mustansiriya University, fear of wider civil conflict -- beyond the likely continuation of violence by fringe groups like al Qaeda -- is likely to promote the spirit of compromise. [7]

Parties and coalitions

The deadline for registering parties and coalitions closed on 28 October. The Electoral Commission announced that 228 lists had been registered, including 21 coalitions.

The emerging Iraqi political scene has been marked by groups of established parties running on joint lists, often grouped on sectarian or ethnic grounds. These lists are not necessarily stable, as the parties sharing a list may be past or present rivals; the situation will be even more complicated for the December 2005 election because parties can form different alliances in different governorates. The landscape is currently fluid; what follows is a list of some of the more important parties and coalitions, with a focus on alliances that have shifted since the January 2005 election.