The Sadr movement and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) have successively conducted primary elections in Karbala province to identify candidates for upcoming parliamentary elections.

On Sunday the Iraqi parliament passed an election law which should pave the way for elections to be held in January. The controversial issue of Kirkuk and other disputed territories was resolved by declaring that the results would be provisional in these areas.

Additionally, parliament decided on an open list whereby candidate names would be printed on election ballots as opposed to just political blocs.

The primary elections for the two Shia political blocs, organised as internal party votes without government support, were based on local voting to choose the most popular candidates. The two parties allowed any candidates to stand for election – even current non-members – on the condition that they wanted to join their lists. Candidates conducted their own campaigns without party support.

“Those elected enjoy a popular base,” said Sheikh Salah al-Ubaidi, a leading member of the Sadrist movement, while admitting that the open-list is likely to harm the party’s chances of success in the election.

An ISCI official told Niqash that the vote would ensure strong local support for the party’s candidates. “We are searching for candidates who enjoy wide popular support,” said Mueen al-Mahna, head of the ISCI office in Karbala.

Kathem al-Hasnawi, the head of the Sadr political commission in Karbala won the Sadr vote, along with six other candidates, all party members. Hameed Hashim Ubaid, who is not a member of the movement won least votes and was ranked eighth on the list.

In the ISCI election Atiyah Abdul-Ridha, a member of the Badr Organization in Karbala, won 14,000 votes, emerging as the party’s number one candidate. Dr. Habeeb al-Tarfi, a member of Karbala’s province council for the Hizbullah party and another five members, among them Balqees al-Sharifi, also a member of the province council in Karbala, also secured candidate positions.

According to party figures, the Sadr election attracted 17,000 votes and the ISCI election more than 100,000 votes.

Only one independent candidate - Ahmad al-Kanani – secured a election seat for either party, demonstrating the difficulties facing non-party members wishing to secure positions as candidates.

One independent ISCI candidate, Abu Wisam, said that the elections were not fair and did not provide candidates with equal opportunities. “The Badr organization and Supreme Council officials guided their supporters to vote for certain candidates,” he complained. Moreover, Abu Wisam complained that the election allowed candidates to gather lists of ‘signatures,’ classified as votes. “Each candidate can collect the signatures of hundreds of people, most of whom are not real supporters, in order to win,” he said.

According to Abu Wisam there was a clear “manipulation of results”.

Other observers criticized the way the elections were held and the counting of votes because there was no impartial body to monitor the process.

Khaled al-Ardawi, a local law professor, said that “the election was an important experience, but we still have our own reservations over the way it was implemented.”

Al-Ardawi said that the country’s Electoral Commission did not monitor the vote nor did it send observers during the sorting and counting of votes. “Additionally, civil society organizations were not present,” he said.

In response to this criticism al-Mahna, the ISCI representative, said that “there may be endless interpretations but the election aim of reaching a candidate list which represents the choice of a large sector of voters in Karbala, was a noble one.”

“There was no reason for fraud,” added al-Mahna. “If the Supreme Council wanted to choose its candidates, it would have been easy done so and wouldn’t have resorted to the people through primary or popular elections.”

Kathem al-Hasnawi, winner of the Sadr election, told Niqash that “the elections were transparent and free.” Commenting on claims of violations, al-Hasnawi said that “if there were any, such violations were very limited.”

Even so, other observers say that the purpose of the elections was more about energizing the base in the face of dwindling popular support than selecting appropriate candidates. One former Sadrist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the movement launched the campaign as a propaganda tool to reengage local voters and regain lost popularity.