Iraqi women's number lowers in the upcoming elections

The conflict between the candidates for the early elections is raging as they are held on October 10, while the chances of women candidates appear to be less than their male counterparts, especially from the low number of female candidates in these elections compared to the previous elections.

5,323 candidates are competing to run in the elections, of whom 963 are women, which is much less than in the last elections that took place in 2018 when there were 2014 women candidates however, the important thing is that a specific number of women win seats in the Council of Representatives, according to what Confirmed by legal expert Tariq Harb.

The law limits the percentage of female candidates:

Tariq Harb told PUKmedia that according to Article 49 of the Iraqi constitution, the rate of females should be a quarter of the number of male candidates. He also emphasized that the women's representation rate should not be less than a quarter for the Council of Representatives.

Tariq Harb believes that the low number of female candidates is not an issue because the important thing is to win the required number, which is 83 candidates. 

He explained that according to the new election law, there are 83 areas in Iraq, therefore the candidate who gets the highest number of votes in each area will win membership in the Council of Representatives. 

He indicated that, for instance, in Sulaymaniyah, the highest candidate with 2,000 votes might enter the council, but there may be a female candidate in Baghdad with 10,000 votes. At this point, she will not be able to win because there is another candidate who has more votes than her in her area.

Tariq Harb stressed that the number of women in the parliament cannot be more than 25%, and there must be 83 females out of 329, which is the number of parliament members.

Candidates do not have enough support:

Member of the Parliamentary Women's Committee, MP Rezan Sheikh Dler, believes that several reasons lead to the low number of women candidates running for elections.

Rezan Sheikh Dler stated, "according to the quota system, political parties now present one candidate out of 4 candidates, which make the number of female candidates more limited," stressing that there are not many independent women candidates because they do not have sufficient support to run for elections. Some parties support independent candidates, but mainly they support men.

Rezan Sheikh Dler emphasizes that these factors lower the number of women candidates, and they do not have enough power to compete for seats in the Council of Representatives in front of male candidates.

Several female candidates view the new election law as a reason for the low number of females, which led to a lack of confidence among the candidates, in addition to criticizing the quota system, which is considered unfair in their view.

Lack of trust and societal norms affect the candidacy of women:

Independent candidate from Saladin Governorate, Saja al-Bayati, told PUKmedia, "Changing the election law has caused lack of confidence in some candidates, especially women, and the competition has become tough because voting has become localized due to the areas in the governorates, unlike before where an entire governorate could vote."

Al-Bayati believes that "a person who is known in his area and has a large supporter base can continue regardless of the money, which plays a big role in buying votes,"

"Women candidates, in general, have a problem with women voting because they do not participate in elections except in small percentages, especially in the regions, and this is because of tribal and societal custom. It is still shameful for a woman to go outside her home," she added.

Al-Bayati stated that no law protects women, nor does society takes justice. She continued, "the issue of the women's quota is also unfair, is it possible to compare a woman who is a former member of Parliament and has money, projects, and influence, or a woman left behind by a party that allocates sufficient funds for her candidacy and electoral campaign?", with an independent woman who only owns some of the audience.



PUKmedia