Teaching Comparative

Proportional or SMD

Ayad Allawi, the prime minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005, argued in a New York Times op-ed piece that the proportional elections held in 2005 are a cause of Iraqi political problems.

The man has done some comparative thinking. I wonder if he's done enough.

What a great opportunity to ask students to consider the results of different electoral systems. Compare this proposal, for instance, with the changes to Duma elections in Russia.

It's also an opportunity to examine why people vote the ways they do. Would Iraqis vote for issues and policy positions as opposed to voting for ethnic and religious groups?

How Iraq’s Elections Set Back Democracy

"...there has been much criticism over the lack of progress made by the Baghdad government toward national reconciliation. Unfortunately, neither Washington nor the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki seems to understand that reconciliation between Iraq’s ethnic and religious groups will begin only when we change the flawed electoral system...

"[T]he elections went ahead in January 2005, under a misguided “closed party list” system. Rather than choosing a specific candidate, voters across the country chose from among rival lists of candidates backed and organized by political parties. This system was entirely unsuitable given the security situation, the lack of accurate census figures, heavy intimidation from ethnic and religious militias, gross interventions by Iran, dismantled state institutions, and the use of religious symbols by parties to influence voters...

"I propose that a new electoral law be devised to move Iraq toward a completely district-based electoral system, like the American Congress, or a “mixed party list” system like that in Germany, in which some representatives are directly elected and other seats are allotted based on the parties’ overall showing. In either case, the candidates must be announced well in advance of the election, and they must be chosen to represent the people in their locality..."

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Labels: concepts, elections

posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:07 AM