November 19th, 2009 by Jason

The New York Times reports Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi has officially vetoed Iraq’s new election law, citing insufficient representation of Iraq’s minorities and refugees abroad. The Kurds were also unhappy with the law, leading to a threat of a boycott and a likely veto from Kurdish Vice President Jalal Talabani. The decision has forced Iraqi’s Independent High Election Commission to halt preparations for January’s elections. This is the 11th time the election law has been delayed.

Juan Cole criticizes al-Hashemi for acting in the interest of the Sunnis and not Iraq as a whole. According to Cole, the veto threatens “to create a political vacuum and create a constitutional vacuum.” Reider Visser explains why the veto may please al-Hashemi’s potential allies, Ayad Allawi and Saleh al-Mutlaq, as well as the Kurdish community, who stand to gain the most from increased representation of refugees.

Iraq Pundit criticizes Westerners who belittle Iraqi democracy. He writes, “sure it’s more fashionable to insist that Iraqis are incapable of living in a democracy. But just as many trendy ideas are nonsense, so is that one. Because Iraqis definitely understand and appreciate democracy.” In another post, Iraq Pundit seeks to assuage the media’s fears of an imminent collapse in Iraq, expressing his hope that the Iraqi people will vote the current “losers out of office and bring in a new government.”

While exploring the continued threat of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Myriam Benraadof The Washington Institute explains how terrorists have shifted tactics from attacking U.S. forces to Iraqi institutions to destabilize the country. Despite the news of the election law veto, U.S. General Ray Odierno announced all U.S. combat troops will pull out by August 2010, unless the situation unexpectedly changes.

Meanwhile, Gary Sick argues that fears Iran will come to dominate Iraq’s nascent democracy are “exaggerated.” According to Sick, much of this fear “can be written off as status envy or political sour grapes or even uneasiness that Iraq, unlike nearly all its neighbors in the Middle East, holds elections that are not rigged in favor of the current rulers.”  Sick concludes that “the Iraqi political experiment, messy as it may be, is showing signs of genuine representative government at a time when Iran seems to be sliding into a corporatist military dictatorship with an Islamic veneer.”

Posted in Elections, Iran, Iraq, Kurds, Legislation, Military, Political Parties, Terrorism, US foreign policy |