Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary election, scheduled for November 11, will determine the makeup of the 329-seat Council of Representatives. Of these seats, 46 are allocated to the Kurdistan Region, including 9 reserved for women. This report explains how votes are translated into seats under Iraq’s electoral system and outlines how vacant seats are filled.

According to the electoral law published by the Independent High Electoral Commission on May 12, each governorate in Iraq is treated as a single electoral constituency, with the 329 seats allocated based on population. Although the Iraqi Parliament recently recognized Halabja as a governorate, for this election it will remain administratively part of Sulaimani and will not function as a separate constituency.

Minority Representation Through Quotas

Nine seats within the Iraqi Parliament are explicitly reserved for ethnic and religious minority groups. Notably, if candidates from these minority groups secure general parliamentary seats through the regular electoral process, such results do not diminish their designated quota seats. Candidates competing for these minority quota seats are ranked based on their individual vote counts. The highest vote-earner within each constituency claims the quota seat. In the event of a tie, the Electoral Commission resolves the matter by drawing lots publicly, with the involved candidates or their representatives in attendance.

Ensuring Women’s Representation

Iraqi law mandates that women hold at least 25 percent of the general seats in each constituency. This requirement excludes women elected through minority quota seats, who do not count toward the gender quota.

If this 25% threshold is met naturally through the election results, no changes are made. If it is not met, a substitution mechanism is triggered: male candidates are replaced by women from the same electoral list. The number of seats won by each list is used to determine how many should be held by women, initially by dividing the total seats by four. If that is insufficient, the calculation is redone by dividing by three. If the quota still falls short, replacements begin with male candidates who secured second seats on lists that won exactly two seats, prioritizing those with the lowest vote totals. If needed, the process continues with lists that won only one seat. In cases where lists have equal vote totals, a draw determines which list must provide a female replacement.

Nationwide, 83 of the 329 seats must be held by women. Twelve of those are designated for governorates within the Kurdistan Region.

Replacement of Vacant Seats

IHEC has also formalized the procedures for filling vacant parliamentary seats. If a seat becomes vacant on an open list, the unelected candidate from the same list and constituency with the highest number of votes takes the position. In cases involving individual candidates, the seat is transferred to a candidate from a political party or organization that received the highest vote count without winning a seat.

If the vacancy involves a component quota seat, it is filled by the next-highest vote-getter from the same minority group in the same constituency. For seats designated to meet the women’s quota, replacements must also be women from the same list. If a woman elected individually vacates her seat, the replacement must come from a woman affiliated with the highest-vote party or group that did not win a seat.

How Votes Are Translated Into Seats

IHEC uses a proportional representation formula to convert votes into seats. After tallying all valid votes for both open and individual lists in a constituency, the lists are ranked from highest to lowest by total vote count. Each list’s total is then divided by a series of odd-numbered divisors (1.7, 3, 5, 7, etc.), and seats are allocated based on the highest resulting quotients until all available seats are filled. If a tie occurs for the final seat in a constituency, lots are drawn in the presence of list representatives to decide the winner.

Once the number of seats won by each list is determined, those seats are assigned to the list’s candidates in descending order of their individual vote totals. If two or more candidates receive the same number of votes for the final seat, the Commission again uses a drawing of lots to determine the final outcome.