WP- Iraq Faces Hurdles On Details Of Election (over 200 names/parties)

About 200 Names Likely To Appear on Ballot
By Walter Pincus and Anthony Shadid
Tuesday, November 30, 2004; Page A12

The ballot for the Iraqi elections scheduled for Jan. 30 may list about 200 parties or individuals, each identified on a line with a name and a logo, but each voter will have a single vote to cast.

Fitting all those names and logos on a one-page ballot is only one of myriad practical problems facing Iraqi and U.S. officials as they plan the election of 275 members to a new National Assembly, who will draft the country's constitution and elect an interim president.
Although most public attention has focused on whether Sunni parties will participate and whether the country will be secured enough for registration and voting to take place, the nine-member Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq has been working with U.N. experts to determine how the election will be carried out.

As of last week, 156 parties and individuals had registered to take part in the election, and in all, there will probably be about 220, according to Hussain Hindawi, chairman of the electoral commission, which was selected by U.N. specialists. Each registrant has to provide a logo or symbol by which illiterate voters can identify them.

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20660-2004Nov29.html

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for a new job..........perhaps she could design a "butterfly ballot" that could handle 200 names/parties. :O)

Maybe Iraq should begin by restricting the elections to males of a particular racial group who are property owners...our four fathers did...now, look at our electoral democracy:

envy of the world?

about 200 parties or individuals (for) the election of 275 members

The country is being treated as a single constituency to choose the 275 National Assembly members because religious and ethnic concerns made it difficult to divide the nation into 275 districts. At the same time, it allows local campaigning and means that violence targeted at one area will not prevent all 275 members from being elected. Although parties or other political entities are still negotiating lists of candidates, they have primarily broken down into religious and ethic groupings. To be certified, individuals must pay 2.5 million Iraqi dinars, about $1,650. Groups must pay 7 million Iraqi dinars, about $4,650.

A party or group of individuals making up a political entity, such as the popular Shiite Dawa party, can put forward a slate for as many as 275 of the seats, but every group must put forward at least 12 candidates, according to the electoral law. In addition, one out of every three candidates on each list must be a woman.

As of last week, Hindawi said, the ballot will not list the candidates on the slates that parties are putting forward.

Hindawi said he expects that with expatriate Iraqis now able to cast ballots, the number of eligible voters will be close to 15 million. He estimated that 10 million will probably vote. With that turnout, it would take about 37,000 votes or more for a candidate to be elected.