UN’s Role in Iraqi Elections

Key points:

* The UN provided support for the formation of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) and the recruitment and training of 900 IECI staff. The Commission is comprised entirely of Iraqis, plus one UN expert who is a non-voting member.

* A UN electoral team of more than 50 staff members in Baghdad, Amman and New York engaged in a wide range of work to provide the IECI with the technical, logistical, financial and administrative assistance necessary to conduct successful national elections.* The UN recommended the proportional representation system, which has been successful in encouraging the participation of Iraqi moderates.

* UN election experts, both inside and outside of Iraq, trained more than 8,000 Iraqi electoral workers to assist the IECI in conducting a fair and free election.

* The UN helped to recruit and train up to 148,000 poll workers for the estimated 5,578 polling centers around Iraq.