Editing Politics of Iraq (section)

===Iraqi parliamentary election, December 2005===
{{Main|December 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election}}
[[File:husaybah vote.jpg|thumb|Iraqis in the predominantly Sunni city of [[Husaybah]], wait in lines to vote during the national election.]]
Following the [[Iraqi constitution ratification vote, 2005|ratification]] of the [[Constitution of Iraq]] on 15 October 2005, a general election was held on 15 December to elect the permanent 275-member [[Iraqi Council of Representatives]].

The elections took place under a list system, whereby voters chose from a [[list of political parties in Iraq|list of parties]] and coalitions. 230 seats were apportioned among [[Governorates of Iraq|Iraq's 18 governorates]] based on the number of registered voters in each as of the [[January 2005 Iraqi legislative election|January 2005 elections]], including 59 seats for [[Baghdad Governorate]].<ref>[http://www.ieciraq.org/final%20cand/IECI%20ApportionmentofGovernorateSeats%20English_new.pdf local election results<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726171238/http://www.ieciraq.org/final%20cand/IECI%20ApportionmentofGovernorateSeats%20English_new.pdf |date=2011-07-26 }}</ref> The seats within each governorate were allocated to lists through a system of [[Proportional Representation]]. An additional 45 "compensatory" seats were allocated to those parties whose percentage of the national vote total (including out of country votes) exceeds the percentage of the 275 total seats that they have been allocated. Women were required to occupy 25% of the 275 seats.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4522060.stm | work=BBC News | title=Guide to Iraq's election | date=2005-12-13 | access-date=2010-05-22 | archive-date=2006-11-18 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118064417/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4522060.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> The change in the voting system gave more weight to Arab [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] voters, who make up most of the voters in several provinces. It was expected that these provinces would thus return mostly Sunni Arab representatives, after most Sunnis boycotted the last election.

Turnout was high (79.6%).  The [[White House]] was encouraged by the relatively low levels of violence during polling,<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/Iraq/Story/0,,1668829,00.html | work=The Guardian | location=London | title=Iraqis flock to polls as insurgents urge Sunnis to vote | first=Jonathan | last=Steele | date=2005-12-16 | access-date=2010-05-22}}</ref> with one insurgent group making good on a promised election day moratorium on attacks, even going so far as to guard the voters from attack.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121500228.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=Iraqi Vote Draws Big Turnout Of Sunnis | first1=Ellen | last1=Knickmeyer | first2=Jonathan | last2=Finer | date=2005-12-16 | access-date=2010-05-22 | archive-date=2018-10-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004123544/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/15/AR2005121500228.html | url-status=live }}</ref> President [[George Walker Bush|Bush]] frequently pointed to the election as a sign of progress in rebuilding Iraq. However, post-election violence threatened to plunge the nation into civil war, before the situation began to calm in 2007. The election results themselves produced a shaky coalition government headed by [[Nouri al-Maliki]].