Thread by @reidarvisser

In an overnight session, the #Iraq parliament agreed on amendments to the 2018 electoral law, thus bringing an end to the new electoral system that was put in place in 2021. A summary of the amendments here (thread) ina.iq/181495--2-.html

Following the experiment in 2021 with plurality voting in smaller multi-member constituencies, #Iraq now returns to the system that prevailed previously of proportionality voting based on a modified St. Lague formula in bigger constituencies again.

The differences between the two #Iraq electoral systems shouldn't be exaggerated. Even with smaller constituencies, the multi-member principle retained a degree of proportionality in 2021.

The return to modified St. Lague means #Iraq will be using a formula used in many other demcoracies. The exceptional aspect of the Iraqi variant of St. Lague is the unusually high divider for calculating seat winners, now set at 1.7 which favours bigger parties. 1.4 is the normal

Even if the differences between the two electoral systems are modest, the 2021 system had become symbolically important to the protest movement that emerged sin #Iraq since 2018, and had also led to new and younger candidates outside the established parties winning seats in 2021.

The inability of the established Iraqi political class to be more adaptive shows how entrenched they are. This piece of legislation is old wine in old bottles. But Iraqi MPs should be congratulated for the amazing self portrait it represents on the 20 year Iraq War anniversary.

It should be added that twenty years of external involvement in Iraq, whether as nation building attempts or war on terror with tentative democracy assistance, has done nothing to mitigate the entrenched and backward-looking tendencies of the Iraqi political class.