Crisis in choosing the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament: No indications of a solution soon

Crisis in choosing the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament: No indications of a solution soon

2-13-2024

The crisis in choosing the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament after the dismissal of Muhammad al-Halbousi (last November by decision of the Federal Supreme Court) has entered its third month, without the parliamentary blocs and political parties being able to reach any understandings regarding choosing a consensus candidate for the position, due to the continuing conflict over it between The Sunni forces, according to the sectarian quota system that has been in place in the country since the American invasion, are entitled to the position.

Continuing failure to choose the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament.
During the last period, the Iraqi Parliament failed in four sessions that it had previously scheduled to choose a speaker, as the three Sunni Arab blocs, “Taqadum,” “Sovereignty,” and “Azm,” continued to cling to their candidates, who are Shaalan al-Karim. , Salem Al-Issawi, and Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani.

The ruling coalition in Iraq, the “coordination framework,” is actually running Parliament at the present time, through Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, through the agency, which is another reason that pushes the coalition’s opponents to consider that delaying the resolution of the crisis of choosing the new Speaker of Parliament is in the interest of the forces “Coordination Framework”.

Muhammad Al-Alawi: The position is an electoral entitlement to the “Taqadum” bloc, and we are awaiting the opinion of the Supreme Court

A prominent member of the “Taqaddum” Party, Muhammad Al-Alawi, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that, until now, there are no understandings regarding the position of Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, pointing out that the past few days have not witnessed any dialogues due to the preoccupation with the file of naming local governments.

The Coordination Framework (Twitter)
Arab Reports
Iraq: The formation of local governments reveals the extent of the differences within the “coordination committee.”
Al-Alawi confirmed that his party is still insisting on its candidate, Shaalan Al-Karim, and that “this position is an electoral entitlement for us, given the majority of the members of the House of Representatives from the component.” Sunni, and everyone must respect that.” He believed that “taking away the progress of their entitlement may have repercussions on the future electoral entitlements of all blocs and parties in the future,” he said.

The member of “Taqadum” added, “The political forces are still waiting for what will be issued by the Federal Supreme Court, regarding the last session to elect the Speaker of Parliament, as well as the complaint submitted against our presidential candidate. Perhaps the court’s decision will be helpful in resolving this crisis and getting out of the state of impasse that the parties have reached.” “Political.”

Last month, the Federal Supreme Court received a case to invalidate Shaalan al-Karim’s nomination for the position of Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, against the backdrop of the spread of a previous videotape of him, which was considered by political parties to be “glorification” of the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a charge that, if proven, would mean lifting his immunity. And referring him to the judiciary in accordance with the applicable Iraqi law known as “de-Baathification.” The lawsuit was filed that day by MPs Yousef Al-Kalabi and Falih Al-Khazali, and included a request to issue a state order to stop the election session until the lawsuit is resolved.

Maher Judeh: The Sunni party is divided between those who want Al-Halbousi, and those who want to eliminate what remains of the latter’s political future

After that, Haibat Al-Halbousi, representative of the Taqaddam Party, filed a lawsuit regarding “violations and violations” that occurred during the House of Representatives session, and it is expected that the court will issue its decision regarding these complaints in the coming days.

The crisis of the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament may extend to a long time.
The representative of the “Coordinating Framework” coalition ruling in Iraq, Arif Al-Hamami, spoke to “Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed” that “the differences regarding the election of a new Speaker of Parliament have nothing to do with the file of forming local governments, but what is hindering the resolution of this The issue is the lack of understandings between all political forces regarding a candidate for this position.”

Al-Hamami stated, “The negotiations stopped during the last period, due to disagreements and each side’s adherence to its position, with the presence of a complaint with the Federal Court about the most prominent candidate for the position, Shaalan Al-Karim, and a political decision cannot be taken in light of the court’s failure to resolve the complaint.”

Al-Hamami considered that the crisis “is worsening with the continued delay in resolving it, due to the continuation of the conflict between the Sunni political parties and their failure to agree on a single candidate or even a settlement candidate. This matter has led us to reach the stage of impasse with all dialogues stopping at the present time, and we expect that this crisis will last longer and not.” Solutions are close to them.

For his part, political analyst Maher Joudah said, in an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, that “there is a political intention to delay the decision to choose the president of the new Iraqi parliament, and this matter was taken by Sunni and Shiite political parties, and therefore the crisis will prolong and enter the stage of stagnation, as happened.” Previously, in the process of forming the government.”

Judeh stated, “The Shiite party wants the position of Speaker of Parliament to remain in its hands for as long as possible, so that it can pass whatever parliamentary laws and decisions it wants without any objection, while the Sunni party is the one who does not want any new president other than Al-Halbousi, for fear that this president will take over.” Based on the political and parliamentary influence that Al-Halbousi has built, while another Sunni party wants to work in a real way to eliminate what remains of Al-Halbousi’s political future, and that is why the conflict is very intense and difficult to resolve.”

The political analyst pointed out that “the intervention of an external factor to resolve this crisis, if it lasts a long time, deepens, and greatly affects political stability, may push the blocs and parties towards resolving the crisis by proposing a compromise candidate, away from all the currently nominated names, which we believe will be difficult to pass.” Any of them”.

On November 14, the Federal Supreme Court in Iraq ruled to terminate Al-Halbousi’s membership in Parliament, against the backdrop of a lawsuit filed by a parliamentarian in which he was accused of forging his resignation from Parliament, with the aim of exerting pressure on him. Since that time, disputes have erupted between the various political forces regarding choosing an alternative to Al-Halbousi.

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