Iraqi high court rules against Abadi’s decision to fire 3 vice presidents

Rudaw


ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Prime Minister’s Haider al-Abadi’s decision to scrap three vice presidential posts last year was unconstitutional, dealing a new blow to his shaky government.

The court said in a statement the positions that Abadi had scrapped had been created constitutionally and therefore could not be discarded by the prime minister.


Supreme Court Spokesman Abdul-Satar Birqdar said in a statement that Abadi had acted “against the Constitution by canceling the positions of the vice-presidents.”


Tariq Harb, a lawyer and expert on the Iraqi constitution told Rudaw that the court decision means that the ousted vice presidents – Nouri al–Maliki, Iyad Allawi and Osama al-Nujaifi – will be reinstated.


"According to the decision, the vice-presidents will return to their jobs as before, because the Iraqi Supreme Court’s decisions are decisive, legal, and will be implemented."


Maliki, who was prime minister before Abadi and who heads the State of Law bloc, welcomed the court decision in a statement, saying a “correction of the mistakes is needed.”


“We do not care about positions, but we want to serve the people of Iraq and their interests,” he said. “Our only option is to stand with the people against any threat, wherever it comes from.”


In August 2015, Abadi sacked the three vice presidents and scrapped several ministerial posts as part of reforms to thin out Iraq’s bloated bureaucracy.


The prime minister has been dodging political fire since then, on the one hand under pressure from powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s calls for reforms and on the other hand trying to defend his cabinet from a hostile parliament.


Abadi’s defense and finance ministers have been ousted by parliament since August, and the interior minister has resigned. Analysts say that Maliki’s hand is widely seen in the machinations against Abadi’s government.


The attacks against the Iraqi government come amid a countdown for an offensive to oust the Islamic State (ISIS) from the Iraqi city of Mosul.


The looming offensive, which will involve Peshmerga forces, the Iraqi Army and affiliated militias as well as the US-led coalition, is widely anticipated to begin this month.