"It is wrong towards us, towards our representation and our participation in the society of the new, democratic Iraq". With these words, the Chaldeian patriarch of Baghdad, card. Emmanuel III Delly, comments the decision taken by the Iraqi Parliament to repeal art. 50 of the electoral law of the provincial councils, regarding the representation of Iraqi minorities within such councils. The decision, if confirmed, would actually take 13 seats away from Christians. In a letter to the Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al Maliki, the Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, the two deputy presidents Abdel Abdel Mahdi and Tareq Al Hashimi, the president of Parliament Mahmoud Al Mashadani and the Shiite religious leader Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, as relayed by Baghdadhope, card. Delly writes: we feel equal to all the other components of the country, without any discrimination, but we were hit hard by Parliament’s repealing article 50 of the Iraqi Provincial Election Law. We hope he concludes the injustices and the forced emigration that hit us Christians will be taken into account". (continued)
