Editing Elections in Iraq (section)

== January 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election ==
{{Main|January 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election}}
The [[multinational force in Iraq|multinational force's]] 2003 invasion of Iraq overthrew Saddam's government and installed an interim administration.

An initial Iraqi attempt at holding local elections was canceled by [[Paul Bremer]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/19/international/worldspecial/19NAJA.html|title=AFTER THE WAR: OCCUPATION; Iraqis Were Set to Vote, but U.S. Wielded a Veto|newspaper=The New York Times|date=19 June 2003|last1=Rohde|first1=David}}</ref>

This government held elections on 30 January 2005 to begin the process of writing a constitution. International groups and the formerly excluded factions claimed that the [[January 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election|January 2005 elections]] were the first free elections in Iraq's history, with a fair representation of all groups. This is in stark contrast to previous elections. After the 16 October 2002 referendum on the extension of his role as president, Saddam Hussein claimed that 100% of the voters voted "yes" and that 100% of Iraqi's had voted (approximately 24,001,820 people). Opponents of the occupation, such as the various insurgent groups, claimed the elections were not free and fair, citing flaws in the process. The UN adviser to Iraq's election commission Craig Jenness said the complaints were not significant; "I don't see anything that would necessitate a rerun.... There were nearly 7,000 candidates standing in this election and only 275 seats, so you're always going to have winners and losers and it's normal that the losers won't always be happy about it."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4555850.stm|title = UN rules out Iraqi election rerun|date = 23 December 2005}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sptimes.com/2005/12/29/news_pf/Worldandnation/UN_led_team_finds_Ira.shtml |title=Archived copy |access-date=4 July 2006 |archive-date=13 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313092933/http://www.sptimes.com/2005/12/29/news_pf/Worldandnation/UN_led_team_finds_Ira.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref>