More lunancies from Iraq
The news from Iraq gets ever more bizarre… and while nothing matches the Chalabi/Iran connection, the following two items demonstrate the Bizarro mirror-world nature of events in Iraq.
If the fact that the U.S. Government is paying $1.50/gallon for gas in neighboring countries (which not incidentally keeps a fleet of 4,200! tank trucks constantly on the move) and then selling it for $0.05/gallon… yes, that’s right, 5 cents a gallon… if that doesn’t get you (prices here in Santa Cruz, CA are heading towards $3.00/gallon), then this will:
According to Reuters (Iraq forms election commission):
U.S. authorities have assigned $260 million (142 million pounds) to organise the elections, a sum Perelli hoped would match costs, though she said
several nations, some members of the U.S.-led coalition and others not, had said they
would be pleased to offer support.
FREE AND FAIR POLL
Following a popular European model, Iraq’s elections will be held on the basis of proportional representation, a method that favours small parties
and should make the ballot more inclusive.
Parties will be able to present a list of candidates, as few as 12 or as many as 275 — the number of national assembly seats to be filled via the poll–and seats will be assigned on the basis of the number of votes received, going down the list.
Perelli said that looking at Iraq’s population of around 26 million and normal voter participation, a party or person would have to win some 26-27,000
votes to earn a seat in the assembly.
As well as political parties, special interest groups will be allowed to present lists, or candidates can run on an individual ticket. To stand forelection, a candidate must file a 500-signature petition with the electoral commission.
On any list, every third name must be a woman to ensure that at least 25 percent of seats in the assembly go to women, a stipulation made in
Iraq’s interim constitution, agreed earlier this year.
***
Let me emphasize this:
“Iraq’s elections will be held on the basis of proportional representation, a method that favours small parties and should make the ballot more inclusive.”
That American government believes in creating an electoral system in Iraq that favors small parties, and makes the ballot inclusive… and it is going to spend $260 million to implement such a system.
Not to mention mandating inclusion of women…
Is this bizarre, or what?
As a Green, I’d LOVE to have that system here in the U.S. … in California (which has an equivalent population), under such a system, the Greens would have at least five or six representatives in office - if not more.
If such systems are good enough for Iraq, why aren’t they good enough for U.S. citizens?
