REPUBLIC OF IRAQ

Official name: Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah / Komara Iraqe (Republic of Iraq)
Location: West Asia
International organisations: Arab League, Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation of Islamic Conference, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, United Nations
Borders: Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey
Coastline: Persian Gulf
Land area: 437,072 Km2
Population: 31,200,000
Ethnicity: Arab 75%-80%, Kurdish 15%-20%, Turkoman, Assyrian or other 5%.
Languages: Arabic and Kurdish are official languages. Arabic is spoken by 75% of the population. Kurdish is spoken by the Kurdish minority, and Assyrian and Armenian by small minorities.
Religion: Shi'a Moslem 65%, Sunni Moslem 32%, Christian and other 3%
Form of government: Parliamentary democratic federal republic. Iraq is divided into 18 provinces.
Capital: Baghdad
Constitution: A new Constitution of Iraq was approved by referendum in October 2005.
Head of state: The President, chosen by the legislature for a four-year term. President Jalal Talabani took office on 7 April 2005.

Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the President. The Prime Minister is the leader of the party or parties commanding a majority in the National Assembly.
Legislature: The constitution provides for a bicameral legislature, but the upper house, the Federation Council, has not been created. The lower house, the Council of Representatives of Iraq (Majlis an-Nuwab al-Iraqi) has 230 members elected for a four-year term by proportional representation from the Governorates, and 45 members representing minor parties polling 1/275th of the national vote.
Electoral authority: The Independent Election Commission of Iraq organises Iraqi elections.
Freedom House 2009 rating: Political Rights 6, Civil Liberties 6

Political history

Iraq comprised four provinces of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century until 1918, when the Ottomans were evicted by the British. The area then became a League of Nations Mandate ruled by Britain, contrary to the promises of independence which had been given to Arab nationalist leaders during the World War I. The British had no desire to rule Iraq directly and a constitutional monarchy was established in 1922, with the prospect of full independence to follow in 1932. A member of the al-Hashemi family was imported from Arabia and became King Faisal I.

The discovery of huge oilfields enhanced Iraq's prospects for prosperity, but the state was weakened by conflicts between Sunni and Shi'a and with the Kurds in the north. King Feisal II, who came to the throne as a minor in 1935, pursued a pro-Western policy. This was undermined by the Arab-Israeli conflict and by Egyptian President Nasser, who was probably behind the coup in 1958 which overthrew the monarchy and installed a radical military regime in power.

Between 1958 and 1968 there was a series of transient rulers, but in 1968 another coup brought officers supporting the Ba'ath Socialist Party to power. These were led first by President Hasan al-Bakr and then, after al-Bakr's forced retirement in 1979, by President Saddam Hussein, who ruled in an increasingly autocratic way. In 1980 Saddam began a long, costly and indecisive war with Iran, which greatly weakened Iraq's economy.

Iraq recognised the independence of Kuwait in 1963, although the Emirate had been once part of the Ottoman province of Basra. In August 1990, however, Iraq suddenly invaded and annexed Kuwait. This provoked intervention by a an American-led coalition, which evicted Iraq from Kuwait but did not overthrow Saddam's regime. As part of the ceasefire agreement, Iraq was forced to recognise the autonomy of Iraqi Kurdistan and to give up all advanced weapons. Iraq's apparent violation of this agreement led eventually to the Iraq crisis of 2003, culminating in military action by the United States and its allies.

Saddam Hussein's regime swiftly collapsed and Iraq came under American and British military occupation. The occupation continued until July 2004, when authority was handed over to an interim Iraqi administration, although American-led forces remained in the country and indeed greatly increased in numbers during the 2007-2008 "surge" which greatly improved the security situation. Elections were held in 2005 and a fully democratic government established, despite a continuing terrorist campaign by remnants of the former regime and, increasingly, by al-Qaeda and other jihadists from other countries.

The most active political parties in Iraq are the Unified Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of Shi'a parties, of which the most important are the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and the Islamic Call Party (commonly called Da'wa). The Alliance is backed by the Shi'a clergy and represents the great majority of Shi'a voters. The Da'wa leader, Nouri al-Maliki, has been Prime Minister since May 2006. The Kurdish minority is represented by two parties, Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party. The Sunni Arab minority, which ruled Iraq from 1932 to 2003, resents its exclusion from power and participates only reluctantly in national politics. The main Sunni parties are the Iraqi Accord Front and the Iraqi National Dialogue Front.

Freedom House's 2009 report on Iraq says: "Iraq is not an electoral democracy. Although it has conducted meaningful elections, the country remains under the influence of a foreign military presence and impairments caused by sectarian and insurgent violence... Political parties representing a wide range of viewpoints operate without restrictions, but the Ba'ath party is officially banned. The Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI), whose nine-member board was selected by a UN advisory committee, has sole responsibility for administering elections... Iraq is plagued by pervasive corruption at all levels of government. The problem has seriously hampered reconstruction efforts... Iraq was ranked 178 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index... Freedom of expression is protected by the constitution and generally respected by the authorities. However, it has been seriously impeded by sectarian tensions and fear of violent reprisals... Rights to freedom of assembly and association are recognised by the constitution and generally respected in practice... Judicial independence is guaranteed in the constitution... In practice, judges have come under immense political and sectarian pressure and have been largely unable to pursue cases involving organised crime, corruption, and militia activity... The criminal procedure code and the constitution prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, though both practices are common in security-related cases... There is a critical lack of centralised control over the use of force in Iraq. Though the Iraqi government succeeded in bringing large areas of Iraq under its control in 2008, insurgents, militias, and criminal gangs were responsible for the mistreatment and killing of thousands of civilians during the year."

Updated January 2010