Assyrian politics in Iraq have been taking many different turns since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Today, there are many different Assyrian political parties in Iraq. The main Assyrian party that came out from the 2005 elections was the Assyrian Democratic Movement. However, Sarkis Aghajan began to challenge its power beginning in 2006 with the opening of Ishtar TV and the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council.
On May 19, 1992, elections were held for the Kurdistan National Assembly (KNA,) the parliament of the Kurdish Autonomous Region in Iraq. At the time, the National Assembly had 105 seats. The parties representing the Assyrian community competed in a closed list guaranteeing that there would be five Assyrian seats in the KNA. There were four Assyrian lists in the elections:
Results[1]
| ADM | KCU | DC | KAD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dohuk | 5,555 | 1,841 | 181 | 241 |
| Erbil | 900 | 880 | 347 | 1,855 |
| Sulemani | 83 | 36 | 9 | 38 |
| Darbandikhan (parts of Kirkuk) |
4 | - | - | - |
| Total | 6,543 54% |
2,757 23% |
537 5% |
2,134 18% |
A minimum of 2,400 votes was required to win a seat. ADM won four seats and one was won by the Kurdistan Christian Unity. The names of those elected into the parliament:
Francis Youif was assassinated on June 1, 1993, in Dohuk.[2]
A general election was held on 30 January 2005 to elect a temporary 275-member Council of Representatives of Iraq. It was the first time in the history of Iraq (outside of KRG-areas) that Assyrian political parties had been allowed to be part of the electorial system. In the elections, there were three different Assyrian lists;
Chaldean National Congress was initially part of list 204, but ended up dropping off before the election. Chaldean Democratic Union Party (CDUP), Assyrian Patriotic Party (APP) and Bet Nahrain Democratic Party (BNDP) of Romeo Hakkari joined the Kurdistani list (130).
| Rafidain 204 |
ANA 139 |
Bet-Nahrain 148 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Anbar | 10 | 1 | 4 |
| Arbil | 958 | 106 | 217 |
| Babil | 104 | 72 | 101 |
| Baghdad | 7,430 | 1,210 | 1,472 |
| Basra | 120 | 153 | 179 |
| Diyala | 219 | 114 | 56 |
| Dohuk | 4,165 | 155 | 137 |
| Karbala | 44 | 57 | 75 |
| Kirkuk | 978 | 599 | 389 |
| Missan | 15 | 29 | 29 |
| Muthanna | 10 | 22 | 18 |
| Najaf | 56 | 59 | 63 |
| Ninawa | 3,346 | 97 | 302 |
| Qadissiya | 38 | 57 | 48 |
| Salahadin | 10 | 18 | 31 |
| Sulaymani | 99 | 39 | 174 |
| Thiqar | 68 | 101 | 92 |
| Wasit | 47 | 32 | 27 |
| Out-of-country voting | 18,538 | 4,198 | 727 |
| Total | 36,255 | 7,119 | 4,141 |
In all, six Assyrians were elected to the parliament. National Rafidain list got the minimum required votes for a seat in the parliament and it was given to Yonadam Kanna (ADM.) Other Assyrians that were elected into the parliament include Goriel Mineso Khamis (BNDP), Nuri Potrus 'Atto, Ablahad Afraim Sawa (CDUP) and Jacklin Qosin Zomaya (APP) all under the Kurdistani list (130.) Wijdan Michael was elected under Iyad Allawi's secular list.
On the same day, Iraq held a local governorate elections in all 18 provinces. Assyrian political parties participitated in 4 of the 18 local governorate elections. The only Assyrian party that won a seat in any governorate was the Assyrian Democratic Movement in the Ninewa Governorate. The party received 4,650 votes and captured one seat (out of 41.)
| Rafidain 204 |
Bet-Nahrain 148 |
Minimum votes per seat |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Arbil | 2,001 | - | 15,120 |
| Dohuk | 4,919 | - | 8,918 |
| Kirkuk | 1,554 | - | 8,727 |
| Ninewa | 4,650 | 2,315 | 3,451 |
In addition, Salvana Boya of the Assyrian Patriotic Party was elected in the Kirkuk Governorate council under the Kurdistani list.[3]
Elections for the Kurdistan National Assembly, the parliament of the Kurdish Autonomous Region (Iraqi Kurdistan) of Iraq, were held on 30 January 2005, to coincide with the Iraqi legislative election and provincial council elections. All Assyrian-based parties joined the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan. The coalition won 104 of the 111 seats in the parliament, of which 5 were won by Assyrians:
A general election was held on 15 December 2005 to elect a permanent 275-member Iraqi Council of Representatives. The elections took place under a list system, whereby voters chose from a list of parties. In the elections, there were three main Assyrian list:
Other Assyrian parties decided to side with non-Assyrian based list. The Chaldean Democratic Union Party decided to run under the Kurdish list (730.) The Iraqi Christian Democratic Party of Minas al-Yousifi joined the list of the Iraqi National Dialogue Front (667.) Bet Nahrain Democratic Party of Romeo Hakkari withdrew.
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In all, three Assyrians were voted into the parliament. ADM succeeded in capturing one parliament seat in the Baghdad governorate, which was given to the secretary of its party, Yonadam Kanna. Fawzi Hariri (KDP) and Ablahad Afraim Sawa (CDUP) under the Kurdistani list (730) for the Arbil governorate were voted in as well.
A local governorate election was held on January 31, 2009 in Iraq.There were no elections in the heavily-Assyrian populated north governorate of Dohuk and Arbil (including Slemani and Kirkuk.) 440 seats in 14 (of the 18) Iraqi governorates were up for grabs.
In the last local governorate elections, only one seat (in the Ninewa) was won by Assyrians (ADM.) Unlike the 2005 local elections, minority groups had reserved seats ahead of the election. Three seats were reserved for Assyrians; one each in the provinces of Ninewa, Baghdad and Basra.
In the election, there were three main Assyrian blocks fighting for votes. The Assyrian Democratic Movement being one, under the list titled National Rafidain List (504). The other being a Kurdistan Democratic Party-backed block titled the Ishtar Patriotic List (513).
The Ishtar Patriotic List included the following:
The third major list was the Chaldean Democratic Union Party (503).
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The Nineveh seat was won by Saad Tanios Jaji of SIGM. The Baghdad seat was won by Gewargis Isho Sada of the BNDP. The Ishtar Patriotic List decided not to run in the Basra elections, however, it supported the Chaldean National Congress (CNC.) The Basra seat was won by Saad Matti Boutros of the CDUP.
The Iraqi Kurdistan region is scheduled to hold elections to elect its 111-member Kurdistan National Assembly. Five seats are reserved for Assyrians. There were 8 Assyrian parties that initially signed up to participate in the elections. Prior to the elections, BNDP decided to withdraw.[15] APP and KACP decided to run on a joint list.[16] CDUP and CNC merged in a joint list as well.
The elected politicians:
Iraqi parliamentary election, 2010A parliamentary election was held on 7 March 2010. The parliament previously approved to increase the number of seats from 275 to 325, of which 5 seats were reserved for Assyrians. Going into the elections, four Christians were in the parliament: Yonadam Kanna (ADM), Fawzi Hariri (KDP,) Ablahad Afraim Sawa (CDUP,) and Wijdan Michael (Allawi list.) The Assyrian Patriotic Party, Chaldean Democratic Forum, and the Bet Nahrain Democratic Party announced on November 15, that they would create an alliance.[24] Five major lists have been created for the election;
Three seats were won by the ADM and two seats by the CSAPC. The five elected into the parliament:
See alsoReferences
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