Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Electoral Confusion

Seven weeks after Iraqis went to the polls, a special election court has disqualified both a winning parliamentary candidate from the Alawi bloc and 51 other losing candidates. All of these have had their votes discarded. If the decision is upheld this will require a recalculation of the votes and the possibility of reversing the narrow defeat of Prime Minister Maliki’s alliance by Alawi's bloc. This could give Maliki the first chance to form a new coalition government.

See this report in the New York Times.

UPDATE 28 APRIL : There is today fine coverage of the situation by "Musing On Iraq" who is worth following on a regular basis.

10 comments:

Coventrian said...

So having failed to fix the election, your friend Maliki is fixing the result. Evidence of more advice from Gary Kent and the LFIQ?

JG said...

Something stinks here, Harry.

What do you think?

Harry Barnes said...

JG : A further problem about Maliki's influence in altering the initial results to his advantage is shown in an earlier item I posted here. http://threescoreyearsandten.blogspot.com/2010/04/electoral-confusion-iraqi-style.html
Unfortunately, the formal democratic structure in Iraq is being used and abused by a number of elements who have little commitment to democratic principles.
Ignore Coventrian, he claims to have an interest in Iraq but I have never seen any evidence of this. If he has even written anything on Iraq apart from what he keeps repeating in my comment box, perhaps he will let me know some day.

Coventrian said...

From

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/apr/27/torture-iraq-human-rights

'Last Monday the Los Angeles Times reported that: "Hundreds of Sunni men disappeared for months into a secret Baghdad prison under the jurisdiction of prime minister Nouri Maliki's military office, where many were routinely tortured." The existence of the prison is not disputed, and the allegations of abuse – including the death of one detainee –were apparently substantiated by an internal US embassy report.'

I suppose you will ignore this too Harry? After all it's not easy for you to come clean about how much Gary Kent and LFIQ got paid for acting as PR agents for the thug Maliki and his Islamic Dawa Party.

jailhouselawyer said...

Harry: News from Europe is that our election could be declared null and void.

Not surprising, given a recent UN Observer's Report...

""The disenfranchisement of prisoners, which the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
ruled in 2005 was disproportionate and incompatible with the right to participate in elections, is an issue under consideration by the government.6 The MoJ completed public consultations on the matter; however, changes are unlikely to be introduced before the general election. In an Interim Resolution of 3 December 2009, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe expressed serious concern with regard to the substantial delay in implementing the ECHR judgment and urged that corresponding measures be rapidly introduced.7 According to OSCE/ODIHR NAM interlocutors, some 63,000 potential voters are affected".

Harry Barnes said...

Jailhouselawyer : Whatever happens on the legal front, electoral reform is likely to be a major item in the next parliament. This gives an opportunity to press for changes that are logically and morally prior to whatever system we use to add up the votes. Namely, (a) what will be done about the 3 million people who even under present regulations are missing from electoral registers and (b) what about those who need adding to registers, including prisoners and those from overseas who are settled in this country but don't qualify because they are not Irish or Commonwealth citizens?. There are people from differing political parties who are likely to be sympathetic to these concerns who are likely to be elected. They will need to be approached over both (a) and (b). Some overseas people who have settled here are also in prison. So they are doubly disenfranchised.

On Coventrian's continuing allegations, I have always opposed abuses in Iraq whether by occupying forces, governmental agencies or terrorists. 158 items on Iraq (out of a total of 505) can be found on this blog which has been running for 44 months. Coventrian record is zero out of zero, as he or she has never opened up the Coventrian blog facility. I am not, however, the only person which this secret person keeps having a go at.

Coventrian said...

So Harry, despite your 'opposition' to abuses in Iraq, your organisation continues to promote the abusers. For example you provided the thug Maliki's Islamic Dawa party with a stall at Labour Party conference.

Your own group, the LFIQ continues to link to the Dawa website despite all the evidence of their involvement in kidnapping, torture and death squads.

Why?

As I have pointed out, Gary Kent had to admit to a financial benefit from the Islamic Dawa Party in the House of Lords register of interests. What he didn't say was what it was worth. How much did he get paid?

I know these are embarrassing questions for you to answer - which is why I expect you to avoid doing so yet again. What do you have to hide?

jailhouselawyer said...

Harry: I am disappointed with the MSM in this country, they have focused upon a minor issue like Brown calling Mrs Duffy a bigot.

On the other hand, if you want the big story relating to the UK you have to find it in Asia!

Election row in Britain over prisoners barred from voting

Harry Barnes said...

Jailhouselawyer : On the millions missing from electoral registers, the Labour Party Manifesto states "We will now act, legislating if necessary, to end the unacceptable situation where three million eligable voters cannot vote because they are not registered to do so." There is nothing about the vote being extended to prisoners or others who miss out. At a glance there seems to be nothing on any of these matters in the Manifestos of the other two main Parties.

jailhouselawyer said...

Harry: As you can see for yourself in Frodl v Austria, 8 April 2010, all convicted prisoners, regardless of crime and sentence, save for conviction for electoral offences, must get the vote.

Frodl v Austria