Elections to a Constituent Assembly ( ar, المجلس التأسيسي, ''al-Majlis al-Ta’seessy'') were held in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

between 24 October 1922 and 25 February 1924, Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I'', p100 electing the country's first

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

. The Constituent Assembly was elected to draft a constitution, legislate a law for general elections, and ratify the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1922.Memoirs of the Iraqi Constitutional Assembly by the Iraqi government (1924), Ministry of Interior, Baghdad. مجموعة مذكرات المجلس التاسيسي العراقي

Background

After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Iraq was founded as a country under the British administration through a mandate issued by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

in 1920. On 21 November 1920, the first Iraqi government was established,

Abd Al-Rahman Al-Gillani Qutb-ul Aqtaab Naqib Al Ashraaf Syed Abd ar-Rahman al-Qadri al Gillani ( ar, عبد الرحمن الكيلاني النقيب; 11 January 1841 – 13 June 1927) was the first prime minister of Iraq, and its head of state. Al Gillani was chosen i ...

was appointed as the first Prime Minister of Iraq. In 1921,

Faisal I Faisal I bin Al-Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi ( ar, فيصل الأول بن الحسين بن علي الهاشمي, ''Faysal el-Evvel bin al-Ḥusayn bin Alī el-Hâşimî''; 20 May 1885 – 8 September 1933) was King of the Arab Kingdom of Syria ...

was elected as

King of Iraq The king of Iraq ( ar, ملك العراق, ''Malik al-‘Irāq'') was Iraq's head of state and monarch from 1921 to 1958. He served as the head of the Iraqi monarchy—the Hashemite dynasty. The king was addressed as His Majesty (صاحب ال ...

by the

Cairo Conference The Cairo Conference (codenamed Sextant) also known as the First Cairo Conference, was one of the 14 summit meetings during World War II that occurred on November 22–26, 1943. The Conference was held in Cairo, Egypt, between the United Kingdo ...

. On 10 October 1922, the

Anglo-Iraqi Treaty The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of October 1922 was an agreement signed between the British and Iraqi governments. The treaty was designed to allow for Iraqi self-government while giving the British control of Iraq's foreign policy. It was intended to co ...

was signed by the Iraqi and British governments.

Results

The elections used an indirect electoral system, in which the general public (only men over 18 were allowed to vote) elected 383 secondary voters, who in turn elected the 100 deputies of the Assembly. The Assembly convened on 27 March 1924 with the King and British officials attending the opening ceremony. The main political issue at the time was ratifying the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty. There were no formal parties, although those who supported ratifying the Treaty without revisions were considered pro-government and pro-treaty; this bloc was led by Abdul-Muhsin Al-Saadoun and Prime Minister

Jafar al-Askari Ja'far Pasha al-Askari ( ar, جعفر العسكري; 15 September 1885 – 29 October 1936) served twice as prime minister of Iraq: from 22 November 1923 to 3 August 1924; and from 21 November 1926 to 31 December 1927. Al-Askari served in th ...

. Those who opposed the treaty or sought its revision before ratifying were seen as anti-government; this bloc was led by

Yasin al-Hashimi Yasin al-Hashimi, born Yasin Hilmi Salman ( ar, ياسين الهاشمي‎; 1884 – 21 January 1937), was an Iraqi politician who twice served as the prime minister. Like many of Iraq's early leaders, al-Hashimi served as a military office ...

. During the first Assembly session, both Al-Saadoun and Al-Hashimi ran for the position of Speaker, with Al-Saadoun winning by a vote of 50–23. The Assembly continued its meetings until 2 August, with the first

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held the following year.

Aftermath

Despite a strong campaign by the anti-treaty parties, the British administration succeeded in convincing the King and hesitant politicians and deputies to accept the treaty.Al-Hassani, Abdul Razzaq (1953). ''History of Iraqi Governments during Monarchy, Vol 1''. pp 167–169 On 10 June 1924, the assembly convened to vote on the

. 69 deputies attended the meeting and the assembly approved the treaty by a vote of 37–24.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1922-1924 Iraqi Constituent Assembly election

1922 in Iraq 1923 in Iraq 1924 in Iraq Elections in Iraq