Parliamentary elections in Iraq have been boycotted by Christian parties who say that seats reserved for them have been “snatched” by a group with ties to an Iranian-backed Shia Islamic militia.
Five of Iraq’s 329 seats are officially reserved for Christians, however according to anti-persecution group Open Doors, a loophole in the system effectively allows non-Christians to vote on who the “Christian” representatives will be.
The result of this is that at that in the last parliamentary elections in 2021, four of the five Christian seats were taken by a group known as The Babylon Movement.
Ostensibly a Chaldean Catholic political party, The Babylon Movement is in fact largely comprised of, and supported by, Shia Muslims. The group also has an armed wing, The Babylon Brigade, which according to the Washington Institute for the Near East Policy, is backed by the Iranian government.
The Chaldean Catholic Church has previously stated that it has no relationship with The Babylon Movement.
An anonymous Christian legal expert from Iran told Open Doors, “As Christians, we have a big problem. The quota has been snatched from us. In Mosul there is no competition within Christian parties because the candidates belong to the same party - to the Babylon Movement.
“The outcome is already settled. Even if 1,000 Christians vote, the party will bring another 3,000 votes from non-Christians and win. So non-Christians decide for Christians when it comes to their representatives. It’s misery for us.”
He added that the so-called representatives of the Christian community had not once spoken up to defend the interests of Christians or Christianity.
Initially the system of seats reserved for minorities only permitted members of those minorities to vote for them. However, a court ruling in 2009 decreed that any Iraqi could vote in the elections for reserved seats.
A local Christian in his 40s told Open Doors that the elections are a sham designed to put on a good image abroad.
“The outcome of the current elections is already known. The elections are only symbolic for the international community to show that it’s a democratic process. After every election it is clear to us that the candidates and winners are agreed upon earlier," he said.
“Most of the current representatives of Christians don’t represent us and the very few who are left don’t have any authority to make any change. If the elections are corrupted and get the international community's approval, this will again lead to another four years of theft, commissions and corruption.”
