For the position of Governor of Basra... replacing the winner with the quota, buying winning members

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[size=52]For the position of Governor of Basra... replacing the winner with the quota, buying winning members, and manipulating the mathematical ratios![/size]

[size=45]Baghdad/ Tamim Al-Hassan[/size]
[size=45]Due to the fluctuating results of the Coordination Framework forces in some governorates after the elections, the latter began racing to include winners on its side to decide the formation of local governments in at least 3 governorates that it feared would lose.[/size]
[size=45]The race to form local administrations is not without reports of “purchases” of some of the winning members, according to what circles in the Sadrist movement boycotting the elections say.[/size]
[size=45]The most visible and first targets in the attempt to expand the Shiite alliance front are the members of the provincial councils who won within the “minority quota”, who are 10 members.[/size]
[size=45]The results announced for the local elections are still partial, while there are suspicions about the reasons for the delay in announcing the final votes.[/size]
[size=45]The initial results showed that the Coordination Framework lists, which numbered about 12 official and shadow lists, controlled more than half of the seats in the governorates.[/size]
[size=45]According to these results, which the Commission said represented 94% of the total votes, it is likely that the coordination framework will obtain the management of 7 governorates, while 3 others - within the influence of the Shiite alliance - remain undecided, the most important of which are the capital, Baghdad and Basra.[/size]
[size=45]The “framework” share of governor positions may ignite a crisis with the Sadrists in more than one governorate, most notably Maysan and Najaf governorates.[/size]
[size=45]Battle of Basra[/size]
[size=45]Although the security situation in Basra is calm, signs of a political battle are looming there because of the position of governor, which Asaad Al-Eidani - the current governor - is firmly clinging to.[/size]
[size=45]On the other hand, the coordination framework, according to internal calculations in the coalition, is that Basra belongs to Qais Khazali, the leader of Asaib Ahl al-Haq.[/size]
[size=45]The problem appears, after the coordination framework lost hope of removing Al-Eidani, with the latter, and is not only related to the share of Khazali or others - according to political sources in Basra.[/size]
[size=45]The conflict with Al-Eidani began far back in 2018, when Basra was ablaze with demonstrations that preceded the October protests one year.[/size]
[size=45]At that time, Haider al-Abadi, the former prime minister, and his Shiite allies were embarrassed by what was happening in the governorate, and they tried to place responsibility on Al-Eidani, who had taken over the governorate one year earlier.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Eidani, known for his contradictory history of political affiliations, at that time turned to Al-Abadi and hid behind the cloak of Muqtada Al-Sadr, the leader of the Sadrist movement, even though he had split from Al-Abadi, whom he ran for in the 2018 elections, and then joined the team of Hadi Al-Amiri, the leader of the Badr Organization. Al-Eidani said in the famous session that took place in 2018 inside Parliament to discuss the situation in Basra, which witnessed violent operations at the time, in response to the Prime Minister who rebuked him in front of the cameras for leaving Basra and being in Baghdad, that he “was with Mr. Al-Sadr”![/size]
[size=45]The new governor at the time, Asaad Al-Eidani, was nominated on Al-Abadi’s list in sequence No. 5. Al-Eidani was chosen as governor in August 2017, following a scandal that followed his former successor, Majid Al-Nasrawi, who fled the governorate after accusations of corruption.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Eidani is a contradictory mix of political backgrounds. He belongs to the National Congress and holds a high position in its ranks, while he was a candidate for the House of Representatives for the State of Law bloc during the 2014 elections.[/size]
[size=45]Shortly after Al-Eidani was chosen as governor of Basra, the Al-Hikma Movement admitted that he was the movement’s candidate, and asked him to do more work to serve Basra. In the 2021 elections, Al-Eidani won a seat in Parliament again, but he continued in his position as governor. At that time, he had led, along with MP Amer Al-Fayez, a new gathering called “Tasmeem”, and he later became one of the pillars of the coordination framework.[/size]
[size=45]But the “Framework” continued to view Al-Eidani with suspicion, especially with his unclear position in the wake of the government formation crisis in 2022, and the news of his support for the Al-Sadr Front at the expense of the Shiite alliance.[/size]
[size=45]After the coordinating framework took power in late 2022, the coalition wanted to remove Al-Eidani from the position of governor, but Al-Sadr stopped that matter, according to what was going on behind the scenes.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Eidani was the only official received by Al-Sadr after his political isolation, last year, when the Governor of Basra visited him with the football team that won the Gulf Championship at the time.[/size]
[size=45]The crisis did not end there. Last August, parties from the “Frame” accused Al-Eidani of concluding a deal to sell Iraqi lands to Kuwait for more than 40 million dollars.[/size]
[size=45]In turn, the governor of Basra at the time accused representatives and an official in the Badr Organization of creating the crisis.[/size]
[size=45]The Sadrists rose to defend Al-Eidani on platforms affiliated with the movement, following Al-Eidani’s appearance on television.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Sadr's fans tried to make excuses for the governor of Basra, shortly after the movement escalated against the coordination framework and accused them of selling Basra to Kuwait, before their position changed.[/size]
[size=45]There were reports behind the scenes at the time about the Sadrists’ support for the governor of Basra, or that Al-Eidani was trying to gain the movement’s support in the local elections. She then indicated that the Sadrists had voted for the governor.[/size]
[size=45]In the last elections, Al-Eidani won first place with the highest votes, with about 160,000 votes, equivalent to 26% of the votes in Basra, and his bloc, “Tasmeem,” collected more than 300,000 votes.[/size]
[size=45]According to this, Al-Eidani’s list won 12 seats out of 23, and it has a comfortable majority, although there are attempts to obtain judicial interpretations to the contrary.[/size]
[size=45]Sources in Basra say, “Members of the coordination framework want to obtain an explanation from the judiciary that half the number of seats plus one in Basra is 13 seats.”[/size]
[size=45]Quota game![/size]
[size=45]If the “framework” does not succeed in this interpretation, then the other side should try to increase its front by purchasing other members, according to what Issam Hussein, a political analyst affiliated with Al-Sadr, says.[/size]
[size=45]Hussein says in a post on the X platform that “the price of a member of the provincial council in Basra has reached one and a half million dollars.”[/size]
[size=45]Hussein also points out in another post that Bassem Khashan, the representative close to the coordination framework, agreed with the latter to file “corruption” cases against Al-Eidani. On the other hand, the Commission, at a strange time, decided to remove the winner of the “Christian quota” in Basra and replace him with another close to a Christian bloc allied with the coordination framework.[/size]
[size=45]In Basra, one seat is for Christians, out of 3 seats for the component in Baghdad, Mosul, and Kirkuk.[/size]
[size=45]The winner of the “Christian quota” in the Basra Governorate elections, Vahram Hayek, was surprised that he was excluded from winning, due to accountability and justice procedures, according to a statement issued by the latter.[/size]
[size=45]Hayek said, “To the people of the various sects and segments of the city of Basra and Al-Fayha, and especially to our fans and voters who ask about the letter excluding us from membership in the Basra Provincial Council, issued by the Independent High Electoral Commission, we tell you that we were as surprised by this decision as you were.”[/size]
[size=45]Vahram Faik described the decision as “a surprise, because when we submitted our nomination papers to the Independent High Electoral Commission, our file was sent like the rest of the candidates to the Accountability and Justice Commission, the Ministry of Interior (Criminal Registration), and the Ministries of Education and Higher Education.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “the responses (from these parties) were positive, and our candidacies were approved and we began our electoral campaign relying on our professional history and the Basra people’s love for us. Praise be to God, may God grant us success and we won the confidence of the Basra people as a member of the Basra Governorate Council for the quota seat allocated to the Christian component in Basra Governorate.” .[/size]
[size=45]Vahram Hayek added that “last Tuesday, we were surprised, as you were, by the issuance of this decision by the Board of Commissioners to exclude us from membership in the Basra Governorate Council based on a letter received from the Accountability and Justice Commission.”[/size]
[size=45]The number of votes for the excluded Christian candidate, Vahram Hayek, is estimated at 1,375 votes, while the alternative, which is affiliated with the Babylon movement, has only 180 votes.[/size]
[size=45]Babylon won 3 seats for Christians out of 4, which are in (Baghdad, Mosul, and finally in Basra).[/size]
[size=45]The movement, headed by Rayan Al-Kildani, has an armed faction within the PMF, is known for its closeness to the Badr Organization, and also has a female minister in the government (Evan Yacoub, Minister of Immigration).[/size]
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