Iraq: The political impasse is reaching its climax… and a Sunni threat to dissolve parliament and re-elections

Iraq: The political impasse is reaching its climax… and a Sunni threat to dissolve parliament and re-elections

4-11-2022

At the same time, the head of the National Wisdom Movement, Ammar al-Hakim, launched an initiative to overcome the state of the “political blockage” in Iraq, based on a comprehensive dialogue between all political forces, and the formation of a unified Shiite bloc, tasked with selecting the prime minister and creating his government cabinet. The Sunni “sovereignty” coalition, which is aligned with the Sadrist movement and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, called for the “dissolution” of parliament and the holding of new elections.
The leader of the “Sovereignty” coalition, MP Mishaan al-Jubouri, said that the option of dissolving the House of Representatives exists in light of the political impasse in the country and the failure to form the federal government, despite the passage of several months since the early legislative elections.

Al-Hakim adopts an initiative to solve the government formation crisis: a unified Shiite bloc and the adoption of the majority in naming the presidencies

And he added in his post yesterday: “We are aware of the great burdens that will be imposed on the Electoral Commission and the whole of the country if Parliament votes to dissolve itself and call for new elections.”
He pointed out that “our talk about it is not a maneuver or a vacuum, but it is the inevitable option if the political blockage continues,” wondering: “What we want to know before dissolving Parliament is the opinion of the street in such a step.”
In the same direction, Mahmoud al-Qaisi, a representative from the “Azm” coalition, confirmed that they are dealing seriously with the re-election thesis.
And he said in his tweet yesterday, “The political tension has reached critical levels, with which the public should return to decide the political weights of the candidates, after the citizen realized for the first time that his electoral vote is the one who decides the candidates’ victory in Parliament.” He concluded by saying: “A parliamentary seat that does not serve its voters has no value at all.”
The Supreme Judicial Council had expressed its opinion on the issue of dissolving the House of Representatives last February, and stated in an official statement that the treatment of political problems is carried out in accordance with the constitutional provisions only, and no party, whether judicial or otherwise, may impose “a solution to the state of political obstruction except in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.” He stressed that “the mechanisms for dissolving the House of Representatives are restricted by the text of Article 64 of the Constitution, and its summary is that the House is dissolved by an absolute majority of its members with two options, the first at the request of one-third of its members, and the second at the request of the Prime Minister and with the approval of the President of the Republic.”
Article 64 of the Iraqi constitution stipulates two paragraphs: “First: The Council of Representatives is dissolved, by an absolute majority of its members, at the request of one-third of its members, or a request from the Prime Minister and with the approval of the President of the Republic, and the Council may not be dissolved during the period of interrogation of the Prime Minister. ».
While the second article states that “the President of the Republic, upon dissolving the House of Representatives, shall call for general elections in the country within a maximum period of sixty days from the date of the dissolution, and the Council of Ministers in this case is considered resigned, and continues to run daily affairs.”
In the same context, Ammar al-Hakim, head of the “Wisdom Movement” and the “State Forces” coalition, announced 9 steps to get out of the “political blockage” that the country is going through.

loss of confidence

In his speech on the thirteenth anniversary of the departure of Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, one of the founders of the “Islamic Supreme Council”, he said that “(…) the worst thing that the scene can go through is a loss of confidence and a feeling of marginalization and exclusion, which are great dangers that Aziz of Iraq has always warned against (in reference to Abdul Aziz al-Hakim) Today, we renew the warning against it and its dire repercussions.”
And he indicated that “the political blockage taking place in the scene, the constitutional disruption, the reluctance of services, and the deepening of the gap between the people and their political system represent basic challenges that must be addressed for the sake of Iraq’s interest, and what we need today is solidarity, cooperation, solidarity and avoidance of grudges and hatred and breaking wills.”
He added, “We are not with the logic of accusation and questioning the intentions of the confrontational political forces, and we do not accept the demonization of the other when visions and positions are intertwined.” To get out of the political blockage that has disrupted people’s interests and deprived them of investing the financial abundance resulting from the rise in oil prices and made them face an uncertain and anxious future.
He continued: “We have previously emphasized that the concept of negative consociationalism harms the political process and will not produce a service government capable of decision and follow-up, and we stress today the need for a particular party to bear the responsibility of forming the government so that failure does not spread to everyone (God forbid) and that people be able to evaluate political performance. Clearly and without misleading or orbits.”
He went on to say: “We have been and still say of gradual, studied progress and a smooth transition from consociationalism to the national majority without quick, unthought-out leaps,” noting that “the required majority is the one that meets on a clear project to build the state and through an equation that states a clear national majority for all components and in the sense of (A Shiite majority, a Sunni majority, and a Kurdish majority) share full executive responsibility in running the country, with a secure minority of all components also exercising the role of constructive opposition with full freedom, strength and confidence through the Parliament, its committees and independent monitoring bodies, thus eliminating quotas, sectarianism and racism.
He called for “the ruling national majority to notice balance in the presence and partnership of all components to reassure everyone,” noting that “achieving this requires a stable and reassuring political environment that helps achieve this sound political path with clear and tangible mechanisms.”
Al-Hakim noted that “the constitution was very clear when limiting the election of the president of the republic to achieving two-thirds in encouraging political forces to achieve broad understandings among themselves, and whoever cannot achieve two-thirds electorally must be a good objective interlocutor for understanding with his partners in the country and in the same house.”
He added: “We are with the need for a strong national opposition and we support the non-participation of all political forces in forming the government, and we wisely took the decision not to participate in the government since the election results were announced, despite our reservations and recording our observations on the elections and their results.”
He added, “However, we see the necessity of forming the largest bloc of representatives of the largest social component to provide sufficient parliamentary protection for the government so that it is not in the wind before the first political storm that sweeps it.”
Al-Hakim addressed the political forces, saying: “From a position of moral and patriotic responsibility, I call on the opposing forces representing the largest social component and all our partners in the country to get out of the existing political impasse, but this is achieved through several steps and in a purely patriotic spirit.”

Unconditional dialogue

He called for “all parties to sit at the dialogue table and discuss solutions and treatments without preconditions or restrictions, and to name the largest bloc through the forces representing the largest social component, as stipulated in the constitution,” pointing out that “the issue of the three presidencies was resolved through the understanding of the people of each component among themselves, Everyone deals with the candidate of the Sunni majority, the Kurdish majority, and the Shiite majority to pass the concept of a reassuring majority for all, with an agreement that rejecting the candidate of one of the other components does not mean an intersection with the component, but rather allowing him to present other options, and the three presidents are representatives of all and enlist the support and respect of all.”
Al-Hakim urged “the formulation of the service and political program for the next government, setting realistic time ceilings for its implementation, determining criteria for selecting the aspired ministerial team, and distributing roles. He wishes to participate, takes the House of Representatives as a platform for his constructive opposition and announces this officially to obtain the required covers.”
He stressed the importance of “the majority pledge to provide a safe cover for the opposition while empowering it in parliamentary committees and independent oversight bodies to perform their tasks, and the opposition pledges not to disrupt Parliament sessions and actively attend in it and allow the majority to complete the constitutional dues,” pointing to “the agreement of the ruling majority and the constructive opposition on Permanent consultation and periodic deliberation on the basic issues in the country to come up with national and unanimous decisions on crucial issues and disrupted laws.
Al-Hakim’s initiative also stated: “Renouncing negative media polemics and the language of blasphemy, treason and accusation, and I call on all government media institutions and others to adopt a national charter binding on all to confront the language of hatred and accusation and purify the discourse addressed to the public with accurate information that is not misleading, for the state cannot be built without A keen national media responsible for the unity of the country and respect for authentic values.
He urged “the adoption of government reform as a material for political competition in performance and discourse, and for every political entity and every coalition to present its programs and its economic, cultural, development and security vision in front of the media, and for political speakers representing their entities to express their vision of the forged solutions and the strengths or weaknesses in them and how to extricate the country from Its difficult reality and its advancement again, so that there is room for public opinion to see the plans and solutions of all entities and support what it deems appropriate for the country.”
He expressed his hope that “all political actors will consider these steps very seriously, hoping that they will be a way out of the country’s crises and a framework for us to meet around and unite our ranks on it in the atmosphere of the holy month.”

reformist government

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, called for the formation of a “reform” government. In a speech he delivered while attending the central celebration of the “Dawa” party on the 42nd anniversary of the departure of the Shiite cleric, Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, and his sister Bint al-Huda, he said: “We learn from the martyrs of Iraq to adhere to the truth and the position, and we learn from them to be the owners of the unifying word, The owners of the national discourse far from sensitivities and fanaticism, so that our positions are for the sake of the people, so we establish a state with good governance, based on justice, respect for rights and their preservation, and performing duties to the fullest,” calling for “learning from the mistakes of the past, so that we do not repeat the mistakes we made, nor We are reproducing tragedies that we have tasted so bad, today we have an opportunity, and we must invest it for the future of our children.”
He pointed out that “building the state and its institutions is the most important requirement, as it means reconstruction and reform, and strengthening the presence and role of institutions. Building the state means armed forces capable of protecting the homeland, its land and its borders against all challenges, and it means a strong economy, cooperation and partnership with the ocean and the world,” calling on political forces By “completing the constitutional entitlements and working in a spirit of solidarity.”
Al-Kazemi continued: “We must pay attention to the fact that the current international crises affect all countries of the world, and Iraq is not far from these crises, and it is our duty to protect our people from any repercussions of these crises.”
He also called for “political decisions to be at the level of the aspirations of the Iraqi people, for our people are waiting for the establishment of a long-awaited reform Iraqi government,” noting: “We all have a national mission that we share, which is to move from the language of impediment and obstruction, to the language of agreement, trust and cooperation, and from the trenches of confrontation, accusations and crises. To the trench of building and fortifying the homeland, resolving its crises, and reforming its systems for the sake of the future of our generations.”

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