Iraq
The Iraqi parliament building in Baghdad's Green Zone on August 25, 2022. Photo: Chenar Chalak/Rudaw.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi parliament on Thursday extended its first legislative term for 2024 for 30 days, with top priorities being a vote on a new parliamentary speaker and extending the electoral commission’s term for another six months.
The media directorate of the Iraqi parliament announced that the legislature decided to extend the first legislative term of 2024 by 30 days. The parliament was originally scheduled to begin its break on Friday.
Following the extension, the legislature is expected to address several matters, including the election of a new parliamentary speaker.
The parliament currently has no leader. The Federal Supreme Court on November 14 ruled to revoke Mohammed al-Halbousi’s parliamentary membership and end his tenure as speaker. The Sunni strongman was accused of forging the resignation of another Sunni lawmaker in 2022 by changing the date on the document.
The legislature previously attempted to vote on the new speaker on January 13, but after repeated delays no candidate was able to obtain an absolute majority, pushing the vote into a second round which was never held. Taqadum’s Shaalan al-Karim and Sunni Sovereignty bloc’s Salem al-Issawi received the highest number of votes in the first round.
Under Iraq’s sectarian power-sharing system, the post of the parliament speaker is always reserved for the Sunnis, the prime minister position for the Shiites, and the presidency for the Kurds.
The Coordination Framework, the largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament, on Monday called on the Sunni blocs in the parliament to fill the vacant position of the speaker within a week.
"The Coordination Framework called on the esteemed Sunni blocs to take responsibility regarding the vacancy of this key position in the political system within a week," read a statement from the pro-Iran Coordination Framework.
Another matter for the parliament to address is to vote on an amendment to extend the term of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) by another six months. The current term of the commission ends on July 7.
The Iraqi parliament conducted the first reading of the amendment on Thursday.
The extension of the commission’s term precedes the Kurdistan Region’s long-overdue parliamentary election, which is likely to face further delays.
The Kurdistan Region is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on June 10, after nearly two years of delays. The possibility of a further delay has been reported in recent weeks after the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) announced that it would not be participating in protest over rulings from Iraq’s top court that the party deemed detrimental to the Region’s political entity.
IHEC temporarily suspended the preparations for Kurdistan Region’s elections pending a ruling on a lawsuit filed by the Region’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani against the division of seats for the constituencies at the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court, the body’s spokesperson told Rudaw on Wednesday.
The court ruled to temporarily suspend working with Article 2 of the candidate registration and approval system for the Kurdistan Region’s elections until a ruling is made on the lawsuit by Barzani.
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