The story: Iraq’s parliament is close to passing a new electoral law seemingly geared to favor established parties over independents and political newcomers. The draft amendments have been submitted by the State Administration Coalition, which gathers the Shiite Coordination Framework and Kurdish parties among other actors, representing 275 out of 325 MPs. The proposed changes have been met with criticism from opposition protesters, the Sadrist Movement and the supreme Shiite religious authority in Najaf.

The coverage: The amendments propose the adoption of proportional representation per the Sainte-Laguë method, in which the total votes acquired by a party are divided by a fixed quotient to attribute seats. The changes also involve...