[EM] Iraq election system

[James Green-Armytage]

	The Iraq election is scheduled for tomorrow, and I'd like to understand a
bit more about the system than I do now.
	The overall system is party list proportional representation. In my
opinion, this is a very good choice, since a non-proportional system could
severely under-represent various groups, whereas STV is probably too
complex a system for the time being. I'm glad that they chose party list
rather than cumulative voting (or limited voting, e.g. SNTV), because
those are much more awkward systems.
	It looks like this is a closed list system (the party leadership
determines the ordering of the list). 
	The size of the assembly will be 275. As far as I can tell, all
candidates will be elected in a single nationwide multi-member district.
("To elect the 275 members of the National Assembly in Iraq, the IECI will
use the system of representation that is defined in the Electoral Law as
proportional representation in a single, national constituency.")
	The assembly will have the power to appoint the president and two
vice-presidents. So, it looks like this is a parliamentary model of
government rather than a presidential system (i.e., the legislature is the
dominant political institution). I don't know whether the assembly has the
power to remove the president from power at any time, or whether the
president serves a fixed term. My personal opinion is that the latter
might be preferable, in the interest of stability.
	The assembly will write a constitution. This part confuses me. I've read
that the people will vote to approve the constitution (or not) in October.
Will a simple majority be required either within the assembly or in the
popular referendum? Because it seems that a supermajority of the assembly
members should be required, at least. In general, constitutions should
always be supported by more than a bare majority in order to be legitimate.
	There also seems to a series of "governorate councils", which will also
be up for election tomorrow. It looks like there will be about 18 of
these, and most of them will have 41 members. They seem to be more of a
local branch of the government. It's not too clear to me what they will
do, and what their powers will be, but it looks like they will at least
have the authority to levy taxes within their region. It looks like these
will also be elected by party list proportional representation.
	Well, that's about all I've found out so far. Would anyone like to add to
this, or comment on it?

References:
http://www.ieciraq.org/English/Frameset_english.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/29/iraq.elex.overview/index.html

my best,
James Green-Armytage
http://fc.antioch.edu/~james_green-armytage/voting.htm