On Saturday, the Iraqi parliament postponed, for the second time, the election of the president of the republic, due to the lack of a quorum of two-thirds that was supposed to be provided, as only 202 deputies attended, while the quorum necessary to start the election was 220 deputies.
The “Save the Homeland” coalition (composed of Muqtada al-Sadr, Massoud Barzani, and Muhammad al-Halbousi) has about 168 deputies, and was able to gather about 40 others, but it still needs 20 deputies, to complete the quorum of the session and proceed with choosing a president of the republic, (the candidate About this alliance Reaper Ahmed).
sparring and show of strength
The atmosphere of the parliament session witnessed an exchange of statements and pictures and a display of political power, with a sharp tone of speech adopted by Shiite leaders, such as Nouri al-Maliki, Muqtada al-Sadr, and their representatives, which added an atmosphere of tension to the entire political process, amid fears of delinquency towards armed conflict, in The various parties continued to possess weapons.
While parliament was holding its session in the official building, the head of the State of Law coalition, Nuri al-Maliki, opened his house in front of a large gathering of deputies opposing the “Save the Homeland” coalition, where dozens of parliamentarians and leaders of armed factions, such as Hadi al-Amiri, head of the Badr Organization, and Qais al-Khazali, attended. The leader of the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq faction, in addition to its Kurdish allies, such as the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the Islamic Union, the Azm Alliance (Sunni), and others.
The expert on Iraqi affairs, Ali Al-Baydar, believes that “what happened today is the best indication that the national will has been stolen within the political system, and it also shows that there are no real independents,” noting that “consensus will be the first and last solution, to overcome crises, in The absence of a political culture that understands the question of the national majority government.”
Al-Baydar added, in a statement to “Sky News Arabia”, that “the tripartite coalition may have erred in its approach, by announcing its government program, which includes combating corruption and limiting loose weapons, which has turned the other blocs against it, and is supposed to conduct political maneuvers to absorb momentum and reactions. expected against his steps.
With the holding of the Saturday session, the features of political tendencies became clear, as forces and parties differentiated and fused into two camps. The first has about 202 deputies, led by Muqtada al-Sadr, and in partnership with Massoud Barzani, as well as the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance. As for the other camp, it is headed by al-Maliki, and has about 110 deputies, and was able to disrupt the parliament session, which opens the door to several future scenarios; The most prominent of these is a political breakthrough that leads to the completion of the constitutional procedures, or entering a dark tunnel, in light of the threat to dissolve Parliament and repeat the elections.
Parliamentary blocs and political figures have spread that the current blockage may lead to the dissolution of Parliament and the rerun of elections, in light of the ongoing conflict, with what this option implies in terms of a complex course, which may undermine all basic consensus and provoke other protests.
The legal expert, Ali Al-Tamimi, believes that “by exceeding the period set for the end of the election of the president, we will be in front of an explicit violation of the decision of the Federal Supreme Court, which authorized the opening of the nomination door for one time, and we will be facing an irresolvable failure, and Parliament may be dissolved at the request of a third of the members and the approval of the absolute majority.” For the number of members in accordance with Article 64 of the Constitution, or a referendum of the Federal Supreme Court if that was done to find out the constitutional outlet.
Al-Tamimi added, in a comment to him, that “we may be in the event that this happens before new early elections, and the current government continues to conduct daily affairs.”
Parliament still has another opportunity, as it set March 30 as the date for the next session, before the end of the constitutional period, which makes the scenario of dissolving Parliament present, or entering a major constitutional vacuum, while others believe that the political process may witness a breakthrough, by accepting the two parties to sit on Dialogue table.
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