The political representation map awaits the results of the population census.. Will the parliament s

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[size=52]The political representation map awaits the results of the population census.. Will the parliament seats increase?[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad/ Hussein Hatem[/size]
[size=45]The results of the population census are expected to change the political and parliamentary representation in Iraq, as Article (49 first) of the Iraqi constitution has set the number of representatives at a rate of one representative for every (100 thousand people), and increasing the population means increasing the number of members of parliament.
Member of Parliament Hussein Mounes said, “One of the expected results of the population census is that it will change the political map and give each governorate its due, and this is related to determining the poverty rate and the population ratio for the regions.”
He added, “The issue of political representation in the region will differ, given that the constitution is clear, as every 100 thousand citizens will be represented by a representative, and increasing the number requires increasing the number of seats constitutionally.”
Regarding development plans, the member of Parliament explained that they “are related to the number of people and the number of souls in Iraq, as increasing the number of citizens means increasing allocations or increasing transfers, and this will become clear soon after announcing the results.”
As for the region’s share, Mounes indicated that “its estimated share is 12.67 in the general financial budget, and in the same formula it is subject to increase or decrease according to the number of people.”
The member of the parliamentary finance committee pointed out that “the population census and its outcomes change all the political and economic plans in the country and draw up a clear policy in the administration of the country.”
The High Electoral Commission relied on a previous census conducted in the year (2010) and determined based on it the number of representatives as well as the number of voters required for each candidate.
According to Article (49 First) of the Iraqi Constitution, the number of representatives is determined at a rate of one representative for every (100 thousand people).
Based on the census of the year (2010), numerical estimates of the population were adopted, which are (32 million and 900 thousand people), until the members of parliament were determined at (329 representatives) only.
At present, the confirmed expectations say: “The population of Iraq will be between (43 million to 45 million people), and this will greatly affect the change in the number of representatives in parliament.”
Legal expert Ali Al-Tamimi stated in a press statement that “the Speaker of the House of Representatives must request an interpretation of Article (49 First) of the Constitution by sending an official request to the Federal Court, considering that this is within its jurisdiction to clarify the meaning of this article.”
He added that “if the House of Representatives decides to implement the constitutional article, the number of members of the Council will be (430-450 representatives) according to population estimates that range between (43 to 45 million people).”
What worries the political blocs most during and after the announcement of the population census results is the continuous increase in the population of the central and southern governorates; due to the increase in the number of births during the past years.
For his part, economic researcher Haider Al-Battat noted in a post on the “X” platform that “the population growth rate in Iraq is (3.1%), and that for every million Iraqis who give birth to (31 thousand children), the annual population increase rate will be (1 million and 300 thousand people).”
In addition, the Strategic Center for Human Rights in Iraq expects an increase in the number of seats of the people’s representatives in the House of Representatives during the upcoming sessions after conducting the general population census for the year 2024.
The Deputy Chairman of the Center, Lawyer Hazem Al-Radini, said in a statement that “Article (49) of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq for the year 2005 stipulated that (the Federal Council of Representatives shall consist of a number of members at a rate of one representative for every one hundred thousand people of Iraq), and since the first elections for the Council of Representatives in its first session in 2005, the number of its members was 275 representatives, and in the second session it was 325 members, and in the third, fourth and fifth sessions that took place in 2021, 329 representatives were approved, and the excuse was the lack of a population census after 2003.
He added that the numbers were fixed and until a population census is conducted that shows the real number accurately because all the data used previously is approximate, especially with regard to the distribution of the number of seats on the basis of each governorate and its share of 329 seats, indicating that there are governorates that may increase their seats and others decrease as a result of the population movement that occurred between the governorates from 1996 to 2024, as there are security and economic circumstances.
Al-Radini continued by saying: After conducting the general population census, there will be two options for the House of Representatives. The first: amending the election law by increasing the number of seats in the House of Representatives in its sixth session, which is expected to be no less than 430 representatives, and distributing them to 18 governorates, each according to its population according to the census.
He said: The second option is to work on amending Article (47) by canceling the paragraph of one representative for every hundred thousand people and fixing the number at a maximum not exceeding (300) and submitting it to a referendum on the same day of the election of the next House of Representatives so that there are no financial costs that burden the state budget.
The Iraqi government began on Wednesday and Thursday last week conducting the first comprehensive population census since 1997, in a long-awaited step that aims to provide accurate data on the population, in addition to contributing to improving economic planning and public services, and distributing resources more fairly among the country's governorates.
It is noteworthy that the last census conducted by Iraq was in 1997 during the rule of Saddam Hussein's regime, but it was not completed due to not including the Kurdistan regions, which at the time enjoyed semi-independent authority from the government in Baghdad.[/size]
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