by RAY FLEMING
WESTMINSTER style democracy it wasn't, but somehow or other this week Iraq got itself a 100-member national assembly at the end of a four-day meeting in Baghdad. This national assembly will serve as a kind of parliament for the next six months, or until an election based on universal suffrage can be held to replace it, which might be longer. The intention had been that the members of this assembly would be individually elected by the gathering of about 1'300 representatives of the many sectors of Iraqi society, both religious and secular. Things didn't quite work out in that way, however. The main political parties drew up lists of their preferred candidates and eventually, after many protests and walk-outs by smaller parties and minority groups, these lists were consolidated into a single one which the meeting was invited to approve. No vote was taken but on the whole there seems to have been sufficient agreement on this final list for a substantial majority of those present to accept it. It is unlikely that any more ordered outcome could have been secured in Iraq's present circumstances.
IRAQ: A STEP FORWARD
20/08/2004 00:00
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