Baghdad: Zidan Al-Rubaie
Yesterday, Saturday, the Iraqi parliament failed to provide a full quorum to pass the election of the new Iraqi president, while the “guarantor third” succeeded in disrupting the election session following it managed to gather 126 deputies, while the President of the Iraqi Republic, Barham Salih, called for a serious and effective dialogue to get out of the current crisis. Completion of constitutional entitlements.
Parliament failed for the second time to elect a president of the republic following it failed in its first attempt on February 7, due to the lack of a quorum of two thirds (more than 220 deputies out of 329) due to the boycott of the “coordinating framework.” 40 candidates are competing for the position, but the actual competition is limited to two figures representing the two most prominent Kurdish parties: the current president since 2018, Barham Salih, the candidate of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and Reber Ahmed, the candidate of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
The start of yesterday’s session was delayed from eleven in the morning until two in the followingnoon in order to allow space between the blocs to agree on a unified opinion, but the agreement was not reached. The session was held under the chairmanship of the Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, Muhammad al-Halbousi, and in the presence of 202 deputies, and this number is not enough to start voting on the candidates for the post of the President of the Republic, because the number required according to the interpretation of the Federal Supreme Court to elect the President of the Republic is 220 deputies.
On the other hand, the “guarantor third”, which includes the “Coordination Framework” forces, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the “Azm” alliance, political forces and members of parliament, announced that it had gathered 126 deputies, and therefore the process of passing the President of the Republic will not take place, and this is what actually happened.
The “coordinating framework” had sent the heads of four blocs in the Iraqi parliament to follow up on the mechanisms of holding the session or not in the parliament, they are: Ahmed Al-Asadi, Bahaa Al-Nouri, Faleh Al-Sari and Mustafa Al-Khazali. The Iraqi parliament decided to adjourn its session to tomorrow, Monday.
The Council’s media department said in a statement, “The Presidency of the House of Representatives decided to adjourn its session to next Monday.” And she added, “The Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Muhammad al-Halbousi, has set next Wednesday as a date for the parliament session to elect the president of the republic.”
In the same context, Al-Halbousi explained, during the parliament session, that “the paragraph of electing the president of the republic requires a quorum of two-thirds of the number of members of the parliament, according to what was approved by the Federal Court and stipulated by the constitution in this regard,” noting that “the failure to achieve the required quorum requires us to continue holding sessions until it is achieved.” Quorum to elect the president.
After the adjournment of the Iraqi parliament session, a state of anxiety prevailed in the Iraqi street regarding the possibility that the parliamentary and political blocs would not reach an appropriate agreement that would lead to the formation of the new Iraqi government and the approval of the federal budget for 2022.
President Barham Salih called on all Iraqi political parties for a serious and effective dialogue to get out of the current crisis without complacency or delay, and to give priority to the interests of Iraq and the Iraqis.
Saleh said in a statement, “The lack of national understandings and the failure of the parliament session to complete the constitutional entitlements on time is a regrettable and worrying matter, more than five months following the early elections, as the continuation of the political impasse amid the grave challenges facing the country has become It is unacceptable.”
