Overview of the electoral map in Ninewa

The province of Ninewa will be among the most hotly contested in next week’s provincial council election, not least because of its diverse ethnosectarian landscape that is reflected in the vast array of competing alliances and parties.

There are 26 seats up for grabs in Ninewa provincial council, in addition to 3 quota seats for minorities. Under proportional representation, the electoral system advantages alliances that can field the maximum number of candidates allowed, since seats are distributed in proportion to the total number of votes accumulated by each party or alliance. The electoral law allows parties and alliances to field a maximum of twice the number of provincial council seats, meaning that in Ninewa, a maximum of 52 candidates can be fielded by each competing list.

Some 11 parties and alliances, representing the most prominent groups, are fielding 52 candidates each in Ninewa.

The results in Ninewa are difficult to predict, although the KDP will certainly do far better than the PUK with Kurdish voters. But on the Sunni Arab front, 6 main parties are competing: