Report of the organization of Tammuz on monitoring the process of selecting the board of commissioners of the Independent High Electoral Commission

The Organization of Tammuz for Social Development monitored the process of selecting the new board of commissioners of the Independent High Electoral Commission in Iraq, as its term has nearly come to an end at the late of next April; the Iraqi council of Representatives has formed a committee of parliamentary experts composed of 18 members chaired by the representative Ali Al-alaq of the State of Law Coalition, and the representative Tariq Ziad, of the Iraqiya Coalition, was selected as  a vice-chairman of this committee, and the representative  Muayad al-Tayeb , of the Kurdistan Alliance,  was selected as a rapporteur.

The committee was tasked to manage the nomination process for the new board of commissioners of the Independent High Electoral Commission in Iraq and the selection of the appropriate criteria for nomination in accordance with the Electoral Commission law and designing the nomination form. The committee has held several meetings for this purpose, at those meetings, a clear absence of several members was observed, at other times, the attendance of surrogates of the same block and party to which the original member belongs was also observed. The committee opened the door of nomination on 20\10\2011 until 10\11\2011, with the conditions prescribed by the Electoral Commission law article 3 secondly, which is:

1-    They shall be Iraqis and have a permanent residence in Iraq.         

2-    They shall have, at least, a first-level university degree.

3-    They shall not be below 35 years of age.

4-    They shall have good conduct and behavior.

5-    To be competent and experienced in the field of administrative work.

6-    They shall be politically independent.

7-    They shall not be covered by the de-Baathification law or enriched at the expense of public funds or to commit a crime against the Iraqi people or of the members of repressive agencies.

8-    They shall have no previous convictions for an offence against honor.

The parliamentary committee received the nomination forms via e-mail. The number of candidates for nomination in the Board of Commissioners reached seven thousand applicants, of who 300 applications that were submitted after the expiry of the legal period to receive them. Also, there were 479 applicants where  submitted before the announcement of the official opening of the candidacy, in addition to 1,000 applicants who are not eligible and will be excluded from the nomination.

Civil Society organizations were not invited to observe the process of selecting and sorting of candidates and those who attended of the organizations were personally represented or through personal relationships. A number of members of the Council of Representatives expressed their fear of the adoption of sectarian and partisan quotas in the selection process, and they confirmed not to give their confidence to the new Commission if they prove their affiliation to political parties, were chosen on a sectarian basis, or not to adopt efficiency and integrity in the selection process.

In order to select the Board of Commissioners according to the conditions, qualifications, competence, impartiality and objectivity, Tammuz Organization for Social Development calls for the following recommendations to be taken into account:

1. To involve the United Nations more broadly in order to benefit from its experience in this area.

2. Involve civil society organizations in the process of sorting and selecting and not to marginalize their role. 

3 – Adoption of the grounds stipulated by the law of the Independent High Electoral Commission, away from quotas. 

4- To announce the results of the selection and sorting on media and civil society organizations at each stage of the work. 

5. Each member of the new Board of Commissioners should be neutral and independent, abides by the Iraqi constitution away from all political loyalties and partisan affiliations and sectarianism, otherwise, confidence will be withdrawn from them.

6. All local and international civil society organizations and the Iraqi parliament should monitor the performance of the new council to ensure the adoption of the correct criteria and bases in interpreting the electoral laws and issuing instructions and orders concerning the electoral affairs and at a level of neutrality and objectivity.

7 – We recommend that the selection of the committees, responsible for the selection and nomination of officials of independent bodies, should be on the scientific basis away from the sectarian and political quotas in order to promote and improve the work of these bodies.

Tammuz Organization for Social Development

1/12/2011