Following the approval of the controversial amendments to Iraq's election law in a parliamentary session on March 27, protests erupted inside the session and across the country in opposition to the approval. 

The new election law procedure comes after the anti-corruption protests in Iraq in October 2019, which allowed independent parties a higher probability of securing seats in the parliament in the 2021 elections.

The approval took the law back to the 2014 Sainte Lague system, which represents a complex system of seat distribution, and is believed to favor more well-established parties, thus taking away chances from independent parties.

Independent MPs barged into the parliament hall chanting “No, no to Sainte Lague,”

The Iraqi parliament votes on the St. Lego Law on (1.7). developments in the Iraqi parliament with the forcible removal of 81 MPs from the hall for protesting the electoral law revisions.
-Al-Halbousi appeals to the armed forces inside the parliament hall to suppress the MPs. https://t.co/787yERPw8v pic.twitter.com/XKNgG4xGyX

— Iraqi Qahwa كهوة عراقية (@IraqiQahwa) March 27, 2023

'A humiliation to us'

In an attempt to contain the situation, Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi called on security forces to move the protesting MPs away. 

While filming on his phone, MP Amer Abdul Jabbar said: “We are being pushed by the guards … This is a humiliation to us,” 

The last parliamentary elections in Iraq were held in October 2021, when Muqtada al-Sadr won 73 seats.

Shortly afterward, the country went into a political impasse for over a year until Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani was sworn into office in October 2022.

Read next: Iraq can defend itself, no need for foreign combat forces: PM Sudani