IRAQ: Election date confusion contributes to low voter registration

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Even before Iraq’s election law stalled in parliament last week, registration numbers were low for the country’s as-yet-unscheduled provincial elections.

Faraj Haidari, the head of Iraq’s election commission, told The Times over the weekend: “The outcome of the registration is not up to our expectations. It’s very low.”

He said the main reason was people remained confused about when elections would happen. Plans had originally been to hold provincial elections in October. But the parliament adjourned last week without passing the law and won’t reconvene until September.

“Having the registration without ratifying the bill was a big step back. This created confusion among the public that prevented them from registering,” Haidari said.

Voter registration began on July 15 and finishes on Aug. 15. The commission wants to have a new registration period once an election date is finally set –- that could even be next summer.

Through Sunday, only 594,000 voters out of 17 million had registered, Haidari said.

Some politicians had a pessimistic air about the process. Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said people had lost their excitement about voting, in large part due to their disenchantment with Iraq’s current elected officials.

-- Caesar Ahmed