However, currently in Iraq, those who most support this idea are allies of the former Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who was basically dismissed for his divisive, power-mongering ways – this includes the often-controversial Shiite Muslim volunteer militias strongly affiliated with Iran.
The fear that al-Maliki could get back into power, should there be a changeover to a presidential system, means that many other political parties inside Iraq prefer to keep the current system, no matter how deeply flawed it is.
As it is, it would be very hard to bring about this change anyway. The Iraqi Constitution would need to be amended and two thirds of the country’s MPs would need to approve those amendments. Additionally a public referendum would also need to be held – something that would be very hard to do under the current circumstances, where parts of Iraq are not under government control.
There have also been other ways suggested to bring about effective political change.
Majority Rule, Opposition Watchdogs
One idea focuses on the idea of a majority government, where senior politicians are appointed because they got the most votes, rather than because of their sectarian or ethnic allegiances. One must remember that there are no genuine opposition parties in the Iraqi Parliament – unlike in other democracies, every politician here wants to take part in the government, sharing the power and the privilege.
If al-Abadi’s proposed reforms go ahead – that is, a government that rules according to who is in the majority and who got the most votes as opposed to the sectarian and ethnic quota system – then Iraq would end up with some parties in power and others in the opposition, from where they could (supposedly) monitor the government’s performance.
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