IRAQ
On 12 Septembe r 2009, the government presented a draft electoral law to be used in the 2010 parliamentary elections. It provided for a proportional representation open-list system instead of the previous closed-list one. Under the new system, voters would be able to vote for both political parties and individual candidates. On 8 November, the Council of Representatives passed the new electoral law. However, Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi (a Sunni Muslim) vetoed it twice, on 18 November and 3 December. He argued that Article 1 did not give a voice to Iraqis abroad, many of whom are reportedly Sunni Muslims who fled the country during sectarian fighting after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. On 6 December, the Council of Representatives adopted an explanatory memorandum to the electoral law. The statutory number of seats will be raised from 275 to 325. A total of 310 seats will be directly elected from the provinces. In all, 15 seats will be reserved for ethnic minorities as compensatory seats, seven of which will go to ethnic Kurds. Following the vote, the Vice- President withdrew his veto. On 9 December, the Presidency Council called parliamentary elections for 7 March 2010. They had been initially scheduled for January.

KENYA
On 17 November 2009, the Committee of Experts tasked with preparing a new constitution published a consolidated draft constitution. It provides for a bicameral Parliament comprising the National Assembly and a new Senate. Under the new constitution, the National Assembly would comprise a maximum of 295 members, of whom a majority would be directly elected from single-member constituencies (currently there are 222 constituencies, but this number will be reviewed). In addition, there would be 70 women representatives elected by the county assemblies (one per county) and eight disabled persons elected at the regional level. The Senate would comprise a maximum of 94 members. A total of 70 members would be elected by the county assemblies. Each of the eight regions would elect two women and one disabled person. The President would remain the Head of State but would be a largely symbolic figure. The Prime Minster would be the Head of the Government. The President would appoint the leader of the largest party in the National Assembly as Prime Minister. If the National Assembly fails to approve the appointment within 60 days, a fresh general election will be called. A public consultation on the draft constitution started in November. A revised draft is expected to be submitted to the National Assembly by March 2010 and a constitutional referendum is expected in the latter half of 2010. If approved, the President must then proclaim the Constitution within 14 days.

ROMANIA
On 24 September 2009, President Traian Basescu sent a letter to parliament asking for an advisory opinion on holding a national referendum on parliamentary reform. The reform would transform the current bicameral parliament – comprising the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate - into a unicameral one and reduce the number of parliamentarians from the current 471 to a maximum of 300. On 21 October, parliament issued a negative opinion on the matter. It argued that no referendum could take place since several articles of the Referendum Law had been declared unconstitutional and needed to be revised.

On 22 October, President Basescu nevertheless signed a decree calling for a referendum that would initiate the constitutional review process. He argued that a unicameral parliament would allow for faster decision-making. Senate President Mircea Geoana urged citizens to vote against the proposals. On 22 November, the referendum was held jointly with the presidential elections. The proposal for a unicameral parliament received over 74 per cent approval and the reduction in the number of parliamentarians was approved by 88 per cent. On 26 November, the Constitutional Court confirmed the referendum results. President Basescu pledged to revise the Constitution in view of parliamentary reform. On 6 December, he defeated Senate President Geoana in the run-off presidential election. On 15 December, the Constitutional Court confirmed Mr. Basescu’s re-election, dismissing Mr. Geoana’s claims of election fraud. Mr. Basescu was officially sworn in on 21 December 2009.

SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
On 16 September 2009, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves tabled a bill in the House of Assembly proposing to organize a constitutional referendum on 25 November. The following day, the House of Assembly adopted the bill. The new constitution was drafted by the Constitutional Reform Commission, established in 2003. It provides for a President as the Head of State instead of the Governor General, as stipulated in the current 1979 Constitution. Under the new constitution, the President would be elected by the National Assembly, the new legislative body. Prime Minister Gonsalves’ United Labour Party (ULP) claimed that the new constitution would bring true independence to the country. The opposition National Democratic Party (NDP), led by Mr. Arnhim Eustace, urged voters to reject the proposed constitution, arguing that it did not include a provision to reduce the powers of the prime minister. He accused the Prime Minister of using the referendum as a strategy to win the next general elections. During the 25 November referendum, the proposed constitution was rejected. Only 43 per cent of voters supported it whereas it needed two-thirds of voters to approve it.

H.Y.

A call to action from MPs on climate change in Copenhagen

At the Parliamentary Meeting held on the occasion of the Climate Change Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen in December 2009, parliamentarians met under the auspices of the Danish Parliament in a joint initiative organized with the IPU. Away from the spotlight of the Convention Centre, several hundred members of parliament from over 60 countries gathered at the Folketing to discuss a post-Copenhagen agenda and parliaments’ contribution to its implementation. The meeting provided valuable input for future work in this area.

Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Republic of Maldives and a former parliamentarian, said that governance is a key element in any climate change policy. Without good governance, countries would not be able to deal with climate change. He gave as an example the experience of the former authoritarian governments of the Maldives, which had adapted to change to some extent but, because government posts had been given without transparency and without consultation, all those governments had failed. As the President of a small island developing State that risked disappearing altogether, he reminded his fellow parliamentarians that, for the people of the Maldives, climate change was not an abstract concept but a very real threat to their survival. He felt that strategies to deal with climate change could not be reduced to a political deal.

Senator Loren Legarda from the Philippines urged the parliamentarians present to go beyond words and make sure that their actions were independent of the size of their countries, because the effects of climate change would be felt by all. She agreed with President Nasheed that good governance was crucial, adding that the problem of climate change was not a problem of the future, but one that was already leading to an increase in natural disasters. Senator Legarda stated that the politics of climate change were interconnected with the politics of poverty, and with the need to support the fight against corruption.

Mr. Saber Chowdhury, an MP from Bangladesh, encouraged his fellow parliamentarians to draw up a code of ethics related to activities aimed at dealing with the effects of climate change. He suggested that the IPU could provide guidance on such an endeavour. Mr. Chowdhury reminded delegates that their oversight function would be vital, as only parliaments had the power to hold governments to account, and that was important in the work on climate change since there would be millions of dollars involved.

EA