MP says minority representation in local polls meets snags

BAGHDAD/IraqiNews.com: An Iraqi lawmaker from the parliament’s commission of regions and provinces on Sunday said representing minorities met snags over defining religious Shabak and Yazidi ethnicities. “Minorities issue has been amplified because Kurdistan’s Coalition (KC) claimed Shabak are Kurds while Shabak MP Huneien Qadou claimed they are separate minority,” MP Hashim al-Taie said in statement published in his website. “The second issue was a claim by Yazidis they have Arab ethnicity roots”, he added. Iraq’s parliament on September 24 approved a long-delayed law to allow provincial elections to go ahead, but lawmakers scrapped a key clause that would have guaranteed seats for Christians and other minorities. “UN envoy Di Mistura’s solution paper stated allocated seats according to strict conditions” MP said ”the candidate nominated for guaranteed seats must not take part in political seats standing in general local elections for this term only”. “A new population census to be conducted later would provide data bases for all minorities for next electoral elections,” the MP added. Iraq’s parliament has set a January 31 deadline for elections in 14 provinces, excluding the three Kurdish provinces and the disputed oil-rich province of Kirkuk. Leaders of Iraq’s minority’s communities claimed the law did not provide for their representation in the councils that would be formed after the vote. AM(S) 1