Minorities triumphed by the Justice of Democracy

 By Abdul-Hussein Salmman

  Simultaneously at the decline of the wave of a mass exodus of the Iraqi Christians from the city of Mosul and the return of hundreds of families their homes, the thing that reflects triumph of the principle of coexistence and citizenship, furthermore it is another defeat for the law of jungle and savagery. 

  Specifically at this time, the minorities in Iraq score an important victory that establishes their constitutional rights and the right of representation in the provincial councils in the provinces, where these minorities are existent. 

  Because on the past Monday(27-11-2008) the Iraqi Deputies Council "the Parliament" has passed a law, which specifies the number of seats allocated to minorities in the next provincial elections, which are as follows:

Three seats for the Christians and one for the Mandaeans in the Baghdad provincial council, as well as two seats for the Christians, two seats for the Yezidis and one seat for the Shabak in the Mosul provincial council, besides that one seat for the Christians in the Basra provincial council. 

  These seats of minorities will be granted to the candidates who obtain the highest number of votes in the specified provinces according to the number of seats allocated to each component in the mentioned provinces, as is shown by the figures above. 

   Enacting of a supplementary or complementary law to the article No. 50 in the law of provincial councils has put an end to the intentional noise and exaggerated excitements, as though the matter is only confined to the right of Christians in the article No. 50, in spite of the fact that there is no argument concerning the question of the right of minorities in a fixed number of seats in the councils of some of the provinces in itself, and there is no one political force wants the marginalization of any minority. 

  Surely, all minorities are partners in the country, and they constitute its components since many centuries, some of them perhaps since thousands of years like the Mandaeans who there is not only one theory that writes their history, and some of historians believe that they were existent at the time of Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) - who was born in southern Iraq.  

  Some political agendas and some satellite channels have been exaggerating in analyzing the issue, and exploited it in the area of condemning the Iraqi government and some of its righteous members… 

  As shown later, the removal of article No. 50 from the provincial election law was a temporary measure until performing the ratification of the electoral law which was in a timing crisis with the approaching elections,  and to specify the position of some of the minorities in the law, as some big political blocs for example, want to annex the Yezidis sect or Shabak sect into their bloc, noting that these minorities do not want that, despite their geographical common coexistence, but they put themselves in an independent sectarian and national position which enable them to be capable of defending their affiliation historically and legally.

For this reason, the article No. 50 of minorities had been postponed until reaching a solution to this problem. 

  Praise be to God, the Iraqi Parliament has put an end to the ongoing political and Media debate, and put an end to the hearsay and distortions, as the distribution of seats has been come in a form that satisfies these components which are limited in their size and sprawled in the provinces. 

  It is now possible that the Iraqi Parliament returns to his program in reviewing of the laws put forth before it, especially the important drafts, such as the oil and gas laws and the constitutional amendments expected, which have been delayed a long time, So it must be reconsidered seriously and put an end to the controversy concerning it. 

  The Government can also now be free from tackling of the internal issues to embark specifying the final position to the Security Agreement, which is to be signed with the U.S. government. 

   In addition, before the government many decisive tasks should be completed, such as addressing the surge of terrorism in the province of Nineveh recently, which one of its landscapes was embodied in recent displacement of the Christian in Mosul, and the return of terrorism once again to some areas of Diyala province. 

  Therefore, the government of Mr. Nori Al-Malik should take a serious attitude concerning settling these crucial issues.