The

Basra governorate Basra Governorate ( ar, محافظة البصرة ), also called Basra Province, is a Governorates of Iraq, governorate in southern Iraq, bordering Kuwait to the south and Iran to the east. The capital is the city of Basra, located in the Basrah ...

election of 2009 was held on 31 January 2009 alongside elections for all other

governorates A governorate is an administrative division of a state. It is headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either State (administrative division), states or province, provinces, the term ''govern ...

outside

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also incl ...

and

Kirkuk Kirkuk ( ar, كركوك, ku, کەرکووک, translit=Kerkûk, , tr, Kerkük) is a city in Iraq, serving as the capital of the Kirkuk Governorate, located north of Baghdad. The city is home to a diverse population of Turkmens, Arabs, Kurds, ...

Background

One seat in the election is reserved for Assyrian Christians Basra is the main oil-producing and transit centre in Iraq, which has led to intense competition over control of its Governorate. It has been the centre of competition between the al-Maliki Federal government, which controls the police and army, the Islamic Virtue Party Governor of Basra which controls the Oil Protection Corps and local militias from the

Sadrist Movement The Sadrist Movement ( ar, التيار الصدري ') is an Iraqi Islamic national movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr. The movement draws wide support from across Iraqi society and especially from the Shi'a poor in the country. The most important ...

and Tharallah. Following the Battle of Basra in 2008, the central government seized control of the city's streets from the Sadrist Movement and the security situation improved. In April 2007,

SIIC The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI or SIIC; ar, المجلس الأعلى الإسلامي العراقي ''Al-Majlis Al-A'ala Al-Islami Al-'Iraqi''; previously the party was known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq ...

successfully brought a no-confidence motion against Governor Waili. This dismissal was ratified by Prime Minister

Nouri al-Maliki Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki ( ar, نوري المالكي; born 20 June 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki (), is secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and the vice president ...

in July, but eventually overturned by the Supreme Court.In Basra, political skirmishing heats up as elections near
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', 2008-12-28 The central government has organized "'' Local Support Committee''" militias, has spent $100 million in reconstruction projects and has started paying unemployment benefits in the province. This was expected to lead to an increased support for Prime Minister

Islamic Dawa Party The Islamic Dawa Party, also known as the Islamic Call Party ( ar, حزب الدعوة الإسلامية, Ḥizb ad-Daʿwa al-Islāmiyya), is an Shia Islamist political party in Iraq. Dawa and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council are two of th ...

. Meanwhile, the Islamic Virtue Party dropped Waeli from its candidate list, reportedly due to his "''polarizing''" effect. In a move away from their traditional apolitical stance, a list with a core support from the Shaykhiya religious community stood for the first time.

Basra Region

In November 2008

Wael Abdul Latif Wael Abdul Latif (born 1950) is an Iraqi politician from the secular Iraqi National List coalition. He was the minister of provincial affairs in the Iraqi Interim Government created following the coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq. Biography Abdel ...

, an Independent Islamist MP backed by tribal Sheikhs, submitted a petition to the Electoral Commission of Iraq signed by 34,800 people calling for a vote on a Region of Iraq covering only the governorate of Basrah. The Sadrist movement opposed the move, saying it was "''playing with fire''" as did the

of Prime Minister

SCIRI The Sciri, or Scirians, were a Germanic people. They are believed to have spoken an East Germanic language. Their name probably means "the pure ones". The Sciri were mentioned already in the late 3rd century BC as participants in a raid on the ...

remained neutral, as it supports a nine-province Region covered the whole of southern Iraq. As the petition was signed by more than 2% of the population, the commission published an official request for signatures; if more than 10% of the population had signed it before 15 January 2009, a referendum would have been held within 15 days. In the event, the initiative failed to reach 10% and was struck down by the Electoral Commission. Backers accused the al-Maliki federal government of blocking their media campaign and appealed the decision to the Federal Court.

Results

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State of Law Coalition The State of Law Coalition ( ar, إئتلاف دولة القانون ''I'tilāf Dawlat al-Qānūn''), also known as Rule of Law Coalition, is an Iraqi political coalition formed for the 2009 Iraqi governorate elections by the Prime Minister of ...

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Nouri Al-Maliki Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki ( ar, نوري المالكي; born 20 June 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki (), is secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and the vice president ...

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Al Mihrab Martyr List List of the Martyr al-Mehraab and the Independent Forces, ( ar, قائمة شهيد المحراب والقوى المستقلة), commonly known as the al-Mehraab Martyr List was a Shi'a Islamist, Iraqi political coalition formed for the 2009 Ira ...

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Abdul Aziz al-Hakim Ayatollah Abdul Aziz al-Hakim ( ; ar, سید عبد العزيز الحكيم; 1952 – 26 August 2009) was an Iraqi theologian and politician and the leader of Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a party that has approximately 5% support in the I ...

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Independent Free Movement List The Sadrist Movement ( ar, التيار الصدري ') is an Iraqi Islamic national movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr. The movement draws wide support from across Iraqi society and especially from the Shi'a poor in the country. The most important ...

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Muqtada al-Sadr Muqtada al-Sadr ( ar, مقتدى الصدر, Muqtadā aṣ-Ṣadr; born 4 August 1974) is an Iraqi politician and militia leader. He is the leader of the Sadrist Movement and the leader of the Peace Companies, a successor to the militia he had p ...

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Iraqi Islamic Party The Iraqi Islamic Party is the largest Sunni Islamist political party in Iraq as well as the most prominent member of the Iraqi Accord Front political coalition. It was part of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and is part of the ...

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Tariq al-Hashimi Tariq al-Hashimi ( ar, طَارِق الْهَاشِمِي, Târık el-Hâşimî; born 1942) is an Iraqi politician who served as the general secretary of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) until May 2009. He served as the Vice President of Iraq from ...

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Iraqi National List The Iraqi National List ( ar, القائمة العراقية الوطنية) was a coalition of Iraqi political parties who ran in the December 2005 Iraqi elections and got 8.0% of the vote and 25 out of 275 seats. History Prior to the December ...

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Iraqi National Accord The Iraqi National Accord (Arabic Language, Arabic: الوفاق الوطني العراقي ''Al-Wifaq Al-Watani Al-'Iraqi''), known inside Iraq as Wifaq, is an Iraqi political party founded by Iyad Allawi, Tahsin Muallah and Salah Omar al-Ali in ...

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Iyad Allawi Ayad Allawi ( ar, إيَاد عَلَّاوِي ; born 31 May 1944) is an Iraqi politician. He served as the vice president of Iraq from 2014 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018. Previously he was interim prime minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and the ...

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Islamic Virtue Party Islamic Virtue Party (in Arabic حزب الفضيلة الإسلامي العراقي, transliterated as Ḥizb al-Faḍīla al-Islāmiyya al-ʿIrāqi or just Al-Faḍīla Party) is an Iraqi political party. After the 2003 Iraq War, the Hizb al- ...

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Chaldean Democratic Union Party The Chaldean Democratic Union is a Christian democrat political party in Iraq and within Iraqi Kurdistan a component of the Kurdistani Alliance, designed to promote the Chaldean ethnicity and heritage. They had one member in the Iraqi National Ass ...

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Ablahad Afraim Sawa Ablahad Afraim Sawa was a member of the National Assembly of Iraq who was elected on the Kurdistani Alliance slate. A member of the Chaldean Democratic Union, he was also elected in January 2005 Iraqi legislative election, January 2005 References< ...

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Al Sumaria

New York Times
- final election results
, '' Niqash'', 2009-02-25

References

{{Iraqi governorate elections, 2009 2009 Iraqi governorate elections

Background

Basra Region

Results

See also

References