Al-Monitor: How were you nominated by the Mandaean community for this post?
Maghamiss: It was a unique event in the Mandaean community. The three councils of the community’s internal system — namely the Spiritual Council, the General Assembly and the General Affairs Council — have made the decision that any nomination to a high post in the Iraqi state institution should take place through elections within the community, in the presence of members of the community’s three councils.
Then the candidate’s name will be submitted in a letter from the community to the state departments. The candidate must have half plus one of the votes at the general assembly in order to be nominated. The members of the general assembly are the only ones entitled to vote among the three councils of the Sabian community.
[The General Assembly] is similar to a parliament and is responsible for the enactment of laws according to the community’s internal regulations. I won half plus six of the votes during the elections that were held in the Mandaeism Mandi [place of worship for Sabian Mandaean community; the main mandi is in Baghdad's al-Qadisiyah neighborhood] on March 11, 2014.
Al-Monitor: Is your nomination considered an unprecedented event in the community?
Maghamiss: The Sabian Mandaean community has never nominated a woman for any important post in the state institutions. Historically, a woman never held the post of general manager of any of the communities’ endowment affairs, be it Muslim, Christian, Yazidi or other, in the contemporary history of the Iraqi state.
This post was reserved for men only. I appreciate the big responsibility of representing women and my religious community, which is incumbent upon me. I succeeded in convincing them to have access and manage this post to the fullest. I took office as acting general director [this position requires the approval of the Iraqi prime minister exclusively] on Sept. 17, 2014, as a [successor] to Toma Zahroon.
Al-Monitor: Do you have remarks on the Sabian Mandaean community representation in the state institutions?
Maghamiss: Sectarianism, the quota system, the many political parties and the distribution of posts among themselves have caused our representation to be ineffective. The Sabian seat in [Iraq’s] parliament can be taken away by powerful parties.
In other words, although this seat is for a Sabian Mandaean member of parliament, it may fall under the influence of the Shiite or Kurdish political currents, and thus, the Mandaean community will lose this privilege [choosing their representative] in the Baghdad council.
Major political parties request their followers to vote for a candidate of a certain minority so that this person receives enough votes to reach the threshold of the quota — although he had not been chosen based on the will of the sect or according to [the sect’s] internal elections.
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