|
Full Representation for Iraq Elections
Several analysts
have called for any elections in Iraq in the future to be held by
full representation voting methods rather than American-style
winner-take-all elections due to the importance of inclusive
decision-making in such diverse society. Fareed Zakaria, for
example, is a frequent television analyst and the editor of Newsweek
International, former managing editor of Foreign Affairs and author
of "The Future of Freedom" (to be pusblished in April 2003 by W.W.
Norton). His article the April 21, 2003 Newsweek included the
following in a lengthy essay on "How to Wage
the Peace":
���WINNER
TAKE ALL��� IS A LOSER
Diversity, properly handled, can be a great source of strength in
Iraq. But power will have to be divided, shared and checked. The
constitution of a new Iraq should create a federal state, with
substantial local autonomy. The regions should not be all ethnically
or religiously based. The electoral system should not create a
���winner take all��� system, in which a party that wins 51 percent of
the vote gets all the political power. Let the losers share in the
spoils.
|
