2010 Iraqi parliamentary election

2010 Iraqi parliamentary election
Iraq
← December 2005 7 March 2010 2014 →
All 325 seats in the Council of Representatives
163 seats needed for a majority
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
INM Ayad Allawi 24.72 91 +54
State of Law Nouri al-Maliki 24.22 89 +64
NIA Ibrahim al-Jaafari 18.15 70 −35
Kurdistan List Barham Salih 14.59 43 −10
Gorran Nawshirwan Mustafa 4.13 8 +8
Tawafuq Adnan al-Dulaimi 2.59 6 −38
Unity Alliance Ahmed Abu Risha 2.66 4 +4
KIU Salahaddin Bahaaddin 2.11 4 −1
KIG Ali Bapir 1.32 2 +1
Ethnic minorities – 0.53 8 +6
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Results by governate
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Nouri al-Maliki
State of Law		 Nouri al-Maliki
State of Law

Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 7 March 2010. The elections decided the 325 members of the Council of Representatives who would elect the prime minister and president. The elections resulted in a partial victory for the Iraqi National Movement, led by former Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which won 91 seats, making it the largest alliance in the Council. The State of Law Coalition, led by incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, was the second largest grouping with 89 seats.

Prior to the election, the Supreme Court in Iraq ruled that the existing electoral law/rule was unconstitutional,[1] and a new elections law made changes in the electoral system.[2] On 15 January 2010, the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) banned 499 candidates from the election due to alleged links with the Ba'ath Party.[3] Before the start of the campaign on 12 February 2010, IHEC confirmed that the appeals by banned candidates had been rejected and thus all 456 banned candidates would not be allowed to run for the election.[4]

The turnout was low (62.4%) compared to the elections of 2005 (79.6%). There were numerous allegations of fraud,[5][6] and a recount of the votes in Baghdad was ordered on 19 April 2010.[7] On 14 May IHEC announced that after 11,298 ballot boxes had been recounted, there was no sign of fraud or violations.[citation needed]

The new parliament opened on 14 June 2010.[8] After months of fraught negotiations, an agreement was reached on the formation of a new government on 11 November.[9] Talabani would continue as president, Al-Maliki would stay on as prime minister and Allawi would head a new security council.

  1. ^ "The 2005 Election Law Seen as Unconstitutional; Seat Distribution Key in Doubt". Iraq and Gulf Analysis. 24 November 2009.
  2. ^ Gina Chon (9 November 2009). "Iraq Passes Key Election Law and Prepares for January Vote". WSJ.
  3. ^ "Iraqi election commission bans 500 candidates", BBC News, 15 January 2010
  4. ^ Iraq election officials confirm Sunni candidate ban, Reuters, 13 February 2010, archived from the original on 15 February 2010, retrieved 13 February 2010
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference fraud_claims was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference fraud_delays was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Baghdad recount throws Iraq election wide open, Agence France Presse, 19 April 2010, archived from the original on 22 April 2010
  8. ^ "Iraq merger forms big Shia bloc". BBC News. 11 June 2010.
  9. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/11/10/world/middleeast/AP-ML-Iraq-Politics.html[permanent dead link]