Comments on: Iraqi governorate elections: thank the open lists http://democraticpiece.com/2009/02/19/iraqi-governorate-elections-thank-the-open-lists/ Tentative conclusions on democracy & governance Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:00:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Iraq’s endogenous institutional inertia @ The Democratic Piece http://democraticpiece.com/2009/02/19/iraqi-governorate-elections-thank-the-open-lists/comment-page-1/#comment-4465 Iraq’s endogenous institutional inertia @ The Democratic Piece Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:24:37 +0000 http://democraticpiece.com/?p=717#comment-4465 [...] political leaders initially opposed to but who later claimed to support the proposal. Successful OLPR elections for governorate councils last winter fueled proponents’ empirical case, and reform [...] [...] political leaders initially opposed to but who later claimed to support the proposal. Successful OLPR elections for governorate councils last winter fueled proponents’ empirical case, and reform [...]

]]> By: MSS http://democraticpiece.com/2009/02/19/iraqi-governorate-elections-thank-the-open-lists/comment-page-1/#comment-3921 MSS Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:38:04 +0000 http://democraticpiece.com/?p=717#comment-3921 Pardon my unjustified moment of unintended optimism: <i>post-</i>conflict. If only. Pardon my unjustified moment of unintended optimism: post-conflict. If only.

]]> By: MSS http://democraticpiece.com/2009/02/19/iraqi-governorate-elections-thank-the-open-lists/comment-page-1/#comment-3920 MSS Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:34:43 +0000 http://democraticpiece.com/?p=717#comment-3920 Count me skeptical, and quite independently of those still-unclear details of the preference-voting system. It looks to me as if those who could deliver the patronage, and who were closest to local security forces, were the winners. That's just as we normally expect in developing, post-conflict democracies, pretty much independent of the electoral system. But if the preference votes really did matter in which candidates won, then such a system would only be expected to reinforce those tendencies. I am not making a normative point here about whether the system was 'good' or not. (How could I when I do not even understand the system?) Just making a pragmatic evaluation. Count me skeptical, and quite independently of those still-unclear details of the preference-voting system.

It looks to me as if those who could deliver the patronage, and who were closest to local security forces, were the winners. That’s just as we normally expect in developing, post-conflict democracies, pretty much independent of the electoral system. But if the preference votes really did matter in which candidates won, then such a system would only be expected to reinforce those tendencies.

I am not making a normative point here about whether the system was ‘good’ or not. (How could I when I do not even understand the system?) Just making a pragmatic evaluation.

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