Tuesday AM Iraq Parliament News Highlights 5-31-22

The Splits...A Problem That Delays The Decision To Form The Government

Sumerian special  2022-05-31 | 03:38  Source:  Sumerian  449 views  The splits within some political components...a problem that delays the decision to form the government

The issue of withdrawals and splits that took place in some political forces and blocs, in addition to the differences between the one component, angered many who consider the matter a stumbling block in the way of forming a government.

Many question marks are raised by the issue of withdrawals and splits that occur within some political forces and blocs. Their causes are attributed to several things, perhaps the most prominent of which is related to the conflict of positions, which may naturally create additional divisions that will weaken the shape of the political scene that suffers from the crisis of forming a government.

Some believe that the continuation of differences within the components hinders reaching a unified vision to create political stability, as there must be a project regulating political blocs and parties to avoid splits and cracks in their pillars.

Among the reasons for these splits is the absence of democracy, the exclusivity of decision-making and the sharing of positions, which are generally considered unsuccessful steps that gave negative impressions and messages to the popular circles, which reached despair over the course of politics in Iraq.   LINK

5 Parliamentary Meetings Before Today's Session

Political| 12:06 - 31/05/2022   Baghdad - Mawazine News  The Media Department of the House of Representatives announced, on Tuesday, that a number of parliamentary committees will hold meetings prior to today's parliament session.

In a statement received by Mawazine News, the department said, "The Parliamentary Committee on Economy, Industry and Trade is discussing improving the vocabulary of the ration card and the smooth flow of its access to citizens."

The statement added, "The Parliamentary Oil, Gas and Natural Resources Committee is now hosting the Director General of the Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) to review the company's work.

It indicated that the Parliamentary Committee for Culture, Tourism, Antiquities and Media is now holding a meeting to discuss a number of law proposals and decide to host the Minister of Culture." In

this context, the Parliamentary Endowments and Clans Committee hosted, according to the statement, "the head of the Endowment Office for Christians, Yazidis and Sabean Mandaeans."

The statement continued, "The Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Water and Marshes is now discussing the third amendment bill for the implementation of irrigation projects No. 38 of 1971." Ended 29/N33 https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=194998

8 Parliamentary Committees Meet Inside The Dome Of Parliament.. this is what I discussed

Policy  2022-05-31 | Source:  Alsumaria news  1,836 views  According to the statement, the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Water and Marshes discussed the third amendment bill to implement irrigation projects No. 38 of 1971.

She indicated that "the Parliamentary Labor Committee and civil society organizations are studying the proposal to amend the NGO Law."

While the Strategic Planning Committee and the Federal Parliamentary Service discussed reactivating the external advisory unit with the University of Baghdad, Al-Mustansiriya and Al-Nahrain University, according to the statement.

And she added, "The Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee held a meeting to discuss its internal system and the proposed science service law." LINK

The Specter Of “Abdul Mahdi’s Fall” Haunts The Formation Of The New Government

Posted On2022-05-31 By Sotaliraq  Baghdad / Tamim Al-Hassan  The specter of the fall of the Adel Abdul-Mahdi government two years ago dominates most of the discussions that are taking place behind the scenes between the political forces to get out of the current crisis.

Most of the views of the political currents are that the broad partnership project, a term recently adopted by the "coordinating framework" group instead of "consensual", will lead us to a clash with the people.

It seems that the state of "political contraction" that began with the recent early elections has reached the most complex episodes, and everyone has stopped presenting initiatives and proposals, or even "tweets."

The number of initiatives from forces inside and outside the crisis and from independents reached 13, while other initiatives are awaiting on the way.

The progress of forming the government stopped at the knot of choosing the president of the republic, and the emergence of what became known as the “blocking third,” according to the famous interpretation of the Federal Court on the quorum of the “president” election.

According to the deliberations between the political forces, everyone is at a "crossroads" over the form of the next government, and the fear of provoking the street again.

Sources familiar with those deliberations spoke to (Al-Mada) that "the most common reasons that divide the views of political forces between forming a consensus government or a majority is what happened in the October demonstrations."

These sources indicate that supporters of the "political majority" project, which is defended by the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, believe that it is "the project closest to the demands of the street."

And she adds: "The last group believes that what the coordination framework proposes is out of history, and no one will venture to repeat the experience of the Abdul-Mahdi government."

The fear of provoking the street, as happened in 2019, and then the fall of the government, is what pushes the political forces to the “Sadr project,” as the sources say.

The sources stress that "none of the allies of the current leader wants to form a government that does not last more than 6 months, if it is in the same way as the formation of previous governments."

The leader of the current had admitted in mid-May that he was unable to form a government because of the "blocking third", so he decided to go to the opposition for a period of no less than a month.

According to what he understood from al-Sadr's recent tweet, he will remain in the opposition's framework if his rival, the "coordinating framework", is able to form a government.

But the other side has so far not made a single step towards forming a new government, and is relying on foreign initiatives, and the expiry of the last "30 days" deadline.

According to the "Coordination Committee" circles, the latter is sure that any new change in the political crisis scene will not occur until after mid-June at least.

"Most likely, a new government will not be formed without an agreement between the Sadrists and the coordinating framework," said Rasoul Abu Hasna, a former deputy from the Dawa Party.

Abu Hasna has little hope that Sadr will go to the opposition completely, adding: "In that case, the government may be formed from the framework and the rest of the political forces."

Recently, the Coordination Council has softened its demand for a “consensual” government due to the street’s rejection of that term, which reminds of previous governments. Instead, it has started using the word “extended government,” a term used by the leader of the Wisdom Movement, Ammar al-Hakim.

A wing of the "frameworkers" thinks that the term "expanded government" will be a way out of the crisis, which is an intermediate situation between the "consensus and majority" governments, as it will avoid the Sadrist movement the embarrassment of including other Shiite forces in the majority government it calls for without prejudice to the origin of the project.

The coordination framework is on the cusp of launching a new initiative, which, according to some leaks, may satisfy the Sadrists, but with conditions that seem difficult to achieve.

The Sadrists stipulate, according to what is being leaked, that in the event of accepting the formation of an interim government that paves the way for new elections, it must be a “political majority government that excludes Nuri al-Maliki, the former prime minister, and Qais al-Khazali, the leader of Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq.”

And part of these conditions, especially those related to the "prohibited" by the leader of the movement, may return matters to square one, as the "Coordination Committee" refused more than once to give up al-Maliki or one of the formations of the Shiite bloc.

It is believed, according to what is circulating behind the scenes, that Tehran, at the impulse of al-Maliki, is the one who stands every time against any attempts to "splinter" within the bloc.

And recently, some wings within the coordination framework of (Al-Mada) revealed that there are proposals that have not yet reached the initiative stage, in forming a “interim government headed by Mustafa Al-Kazemi that will arrange elections within a year” in a final solution to the crisis from the point of view of the “frameworkers.”

The maturity of these proposals is related to recent developments between the two Kurdish parties, the Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union, where there are leaks that Massoud Barzani, the leader of the Democratic Party, may present a new initiative.

The "coordinating party" prefers to wait until the issuance of a final form of the negotiations taking place between the two parties and the developments of what will happen, before it initiates the presentation of the last paper.

So far, the two parties have formed committees to negotiate to solve the problems between the two parties, while the recent negotiations did not address the crisis of forming a government so far.

In this context, Arafat Karam, one of the advisors to the leader of the Democratic Party, confirmed that the latter has tried, since the beginning of the crisis, to communicate with all the winning and non-winning political forces.

Karam said, according to Kurdish media: "The problem is not the issue of assigning the presidency of the republic to the Kurdistan Democratic Party candidate, but the problem for the other party begins after the election of the president of the republic."

Karam, a former deputy, explained that “the coordination framework sees that the Sadrist movement, as a Shiite party, constitutes a minority in the Alliance to Save a Nation, and believes that this poses a danger to the Shiite component, and if we examine their statements, we find that they stress that the doctrine is in danger, and that the rights of the component in Dangerous, that is why they want to form the largest bloc.  LINK

Calls Escalate To Dissolve The Iraqi Parliament

Posted On2022-05-31 By Sotaliraq An imminent meeting of the Kurdish parties to agree on a candidate for the post of President of the Republic

The Iraqi parliament faces calls for its dissolution in light of the political impasse in the country (EPA)

In the past few days, calls for the dissolution of the Iraqi parliament have escalated as a way out to solve the political impasse that the country is suffering from, after seven months have passed since the elections and the parliament's failure to form a government or elect a president. These calls come at a time when the last deadline given by the leader of the "Sadr movement" Muqtada al-Sadr to his opponents in the Shiite "coordination framework" to form a government is about to expire while he moves to the opposition ranks.

Despite the continuing political stalemate in the country, the Iraqi parliament, in which the tripartite "Save the Homeland Alliance" has a majority, which includes the "Sadr Movement", the Sunni "Sovereignty Alliance" and the "Kurdistan Democratic Party", began discussing and approving a number of bills. Such as the law criminalizing normalization with Israel that was voted on by lawmakers last week.

Parliament also began discussing the controversial and controversial emergency food security support law. While the “coordinating framework” voted in favor of the law criminalizing normalization with Israel, even though al-Sadr was the one who submitted it to Parliament, given that the position on Israel unifies the Shiite house despite the sharp differences within it, the emergency food security support law still faces many difficulties in terms of how to pass it until It does not count as an achievement for Sadr and the current government, which is a caretaker government. On the other hand, political, elite, and legal actors began attempts to pressure the parliament to dissolve.

In this context, a number of political and intellectual forces and parties have filed lawsuits before the Federal Court in order to withdraw legitimacy from Parliament in preparation for its dissolution, amid legal controversy and objections based on the fact that the methods of dissolving Parliament are known and not among them is the Federal Court doing so because it does not represent one of its competencies.

In parallel to moving these lawsuits before the Federal Court to dissolve Parliament, the Federal Court postponed consideration of the lawsuit filed against Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi by independent MP Basem Khashan, alleging perjury, until the twelfth of next June.

Although the indications go towards dismissing the case on the grounds that perjury includes only the President of the Republic after presenting the reasons for that, there are those who believe that such cases are considered means of pressure that MPs from within Parliament can resort to, despite the conviction of a large segment of MPs, As it seems, the futility of dissolving Parliament because it may open the door to chaos.

In this context, Siham al-Moussawi, a deputy from the Shiite "coordination framework", says that "the calls for the dissolution of Parliament are very difficult in light of political forces obtaining large parliamentary seats," noting that "dissolving the parliament and holding new elections may expose the political situation to greater problems than currently existing.”

She added that "the current disputes are easier than dissolving Parliament, which harms stability, especially at this sensitive time that the country is going through," noting that its alliance "contemplates resolving differences away from political pressures and reaching an agreement between the coordination framework and the Sadrist movement in order to form the next government."

In addition, the Kurdistan Democratic Party announced, on Monday, an upcoming meeting that includes all Kurdish parties to decide the candidate for the presidency of the republic. At a time when there are no indications of the possibility of resolving the political impasse in the country, the imminent meeting of the Kurdish parties could result from reaching a consensus formula among the Kurds on one candidate for the post of President of the Republic.

In this context, Kurdistan Democratic Party deputy Shirwan Al-Dobardani announced in a statement carried by the official news agency in Iraq that “the Democratic Party is still sticking to the candidate Riber Ahmed for the post of President of the Republic,” noting that “an expected meeting will be held soon between the two Kurdish parties (the Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union). )

And the rest of the other Kurdish political parties to come up with one candidate for the presidency of the republic.” He added that "the Democratic Party does not want to marginalize any Kurdish political forces in Kurdistan," noting that "administrative positions in Kurdistan have nothing to do with the position of President of the Republic." LINK