By Baghdadhope
When, on last September, the Iraqi parliament cancelled by the law that would rule the elections for 14 provincial councils to be held within next January the Article 50, which fixed a certain number of seats for minorities in 6 of them, the special representative of the United Nations in Iraq, Staffan De Mistura, committed himself to do everything possible to reinstate the article the cancellation of which had raised strong protests across the whole country.
Yesterday, October 27, De Mistura presented to the Iraqi parliament a proposal for its reinstatement that presents obvious differences from Article 50.
First of all the provinces which are expected to allocate seats for minorities are not 6, as before, but 3. Absent in the UN proposal are the provinces of Dohuk, Erbil and Kirkuk, while the remaining are those of Baghdad, Basra and Nineveh.
The seats for minorities that were 15 before now become 12.
The same percentage allocated to the different minorities has changed. Christians in art. 50 had 12 seats out of the total of 15, and now they are allocated only 7 (3 in Baghdad, 3 in Nineveh and 1 in Basra), Yazides who were before assigned a single seat in Nineveh can now count on 3 seats in that city, the situation remains the same for the Shabak with the confirmation of a single seat in Nineveh, while appears only now the Mandean minority to which a seat is assigned in Baghdad.
Although these new proposal gives justice to the ancient even if small Mandean minority, and confirm the seat for the Shabak, the jump from one to three seats for the Yazides minority appears as singular, especially when compared to the "loss" of seats for the Christian one. A heavy loss to consider the provincial councils in which they will not be represented by their own lists and candidates. In the province of Dohuk live many Christians and the removal of their representatives from the council will raise protests, especially among those who always called Dohuk "Nohadra" and the province "Assyrian occupied land" and who will see in the cancellation of the Christian political parties the latest attempt of "kurdification" of the area. A similar accusation will raise in the province of Erbil where in recent years the number of Christians fled there from all over the country escaping the violence increased dramatically, and that is the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Even Kirkuk, a city with huge oil reserves, with a status yet to be determined (will it fall under the control of central government in Baghdad or under the Kurdish one in Erbil that claims it as the “historical” capital of Kurdistan?), and with the presence of all ethnicities and religions in the country, including Turkmens, will not have Christian representatives in the council and certainly this is not a good sign of democracy.
Even Kirkuk, a city with huge oil reserves, with a status yet to be determined (will it fall under the control of central government in Baghdad or under the Kurdish one in Erbil that claims it as the “historical” capital of Kurdistan?), and with the presence of all ethnicities and religions in the country, including Turkmens, will not have Christian representatives in the council and certainly this is not a good sign of democracy.
As such it will be interpreted by Christians whose political demands in the last month were "suffocated" by the events occurred in Mosul where thousands fled the killings, the threats and the violence that hit the community. Meanwhile, pending the final approval of the UN proposal the spokesman of Iraqi parliament, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, said that the representatives of the different parliamentary blocs are, at least in principle, favorable to it.
But what does Msgr.Philip Najim, who from Rome in September already expressed his disappointment for the cancellation of Article 50, think of this solution of compromise?
Baghdadhope questioned him about it.
"I read the proposal made by the United Nations. Now we have to wait for the final decision of the Iraqi Parliament. I say again, however, that the representation in the provincial councils of the non-majority components of the country - and incidentally I praise the fact that it has been planned also for the Mandean community – even if just and witness of the path towards the so much desired democracy, must not lose sight of the central point of the matter: all Iraqi citizens, "all of them" should be able to have their rights respected throughout the country, not just where they will be represented in the provincial councils. I fear that if the proposal will be approved in the terms exposed yesterday it will raise protests. The next few days and the next parliamentary decisions will be decisive."
But what does Msgr.Philip Najim, who from Rome in September already expressed his disappointment for the cancellation of Article 50, think of this solution of compromise?
Baghdadhope questioned him about it.
"I read the proposal made by the United Nations. Now we have to wait for the final decision of the Iraqi Parliament. I say again, however, that the representation in the provincial councils of the non-majority components of the country - and incidentally I praise the fact that it has been planned also for the Mandean community – even if just and witness of the path towards the so much desired democracy, must not lose sight of the central point of the matter: all Iraqi citizens, "all of them" should be able to have their rights respected throughout the country, not just where they will be represented in the provincial councils. I fear that if the proposal will be approved in the terms exposed yesterday it will raise protests. The next few days and the next parliamentary decisions will be decisive."
