Opinion: Delayed Ministerial Appointments

Iraqi government officials have appeared on satellite TV channels to talk about the reasons for the delay in assigning the posts of defence and interior minister. They said that person nominated to fill the defence post was rejected by a political bloc that was hoping to win the post. The mutual rejection of each other’s candidates reflects a superficial understanding of democracy, which risks leading to an irremediable situation. The core of democracy, as understood by truly democratic nations, is to accept the opinions of others even though they differ from our own. Democracy needs to embrace a diversity of ideas, otherwise it is pointless even discussing it. If we have more examples like those who went on TV to justify the procrastination, we will be presenting a poor image of how democracy should be. We hope that this poor model of democracy will not overwhelm our country, as that could lead to catastrophe.