The Iraqi parliament passes the “St. Lego” law by force, despite objections

The Iraqi parliament passes the “St. Lego” law by force, despite objections

3-27-2023

On the walls of the Green Zone, protesters gathered from all Iraqi governorates to demand that the House of Representatives refrain from voting on the law on the third amendment to the Provincial and District Councils Law No. 12 of 2018, known as the “ St. Lego ” law.

The popular movement , which expanded in scope with the parliament session, in which the protesters demanded “the rejection of unfair and unfair laws that stand against the recommendations of the religious authority.” In a statement, they called on “the residents of the capital, Baghdad, to join the ranks of the protesters,” and demanded that the House of Representatives lift the paragraph amending the Provincial Councils Law, threatening escalating steps if the law was approved.

The voices of protesters and sit-ins near the Green Zone gate did not find an echo inside the dome of Parliament , which witnessed in the Sunday session, March 26, a movement of another kind between independents who refused to vote on the law and those who supported it. The session witnessed verbal altercations and beatings against independent representatives, according to what was said. Video clips appeared on social networking sites.

whistle to refuse

The session was held on Sunday evening at 20:30 local time, and the vote on the law on the third amendment to the Law of Provincial and District Councils No. 12 of 2018 was recorded in its agenda. The quorum was not reached, so the session extended and was held at 23:00. Independent representatives began refusing to discuss the law, and Representative Falah Al-Hilali protested against an extension movement from Dhi Qar Governorate by blowing a whistle to disrupt the progress of the parliament session.

Fire the freelancers

With the abundance of disagreements and chaos, and the independents chanting the phrase (No, No, St. Legos), the Speaker of Parliament, Muhammad al-Halbousi, called for maintaining internal order, and with the continuation of the protest, al-Halbousi called on the parliament’s guards from the Peshmerga forces to intervene to expel the independents.

The head of the Al-Fatah Parliamentary Bloc, Abbas Al-Zamili, demanded, according to Representative Amer Abdul-Jabbar, to terminate the membership of all members who objected to the law, while Representative Muhammad Nuri was subjected to a beating by the Peshmerga forces charged with protecting the Parliament, which caused him minor injuries.

Law ratification

Despite the popular movement outside Parliament and the protests of independents inside it, the law was passed and voted on in the presence of 189 deputies, and a vote was taken to adopt the electoral denominator (1.7) of the amended “Saint Lego” system, while the “Extension” movement threatened to file a lawsuit with the Federal Court to challenge the decisions made Issued on Sunday session.

Restores the dominance of the major powers

The adoption of the St. Lego system, based on the electoral denominator 1.7, establishes the dominance of the leaders of the traditional authority and makes them more in control of the lists. It depends on the distribution of votes within the electoral list and not on the highest winner. The law also adopts that the governorate is one constituency and cancels the fairness of competition in the elections, and the traditional blocs will remain the same. The dominant one is the one with the best chance to re-enter the dome of Parliament.

October movement loses its achievements

With the outbreak of the October 2019 movement and the resignation of the government of Adel Abdul-Mahdi, Parliament approved Election Law No. 9 of 2020, in which the majority system was adopted instead of the proportional system that existed in all elections that preceded the 2021 elections. Law No. 9 of 2020 also approved candidacy Individuals exclusively, after the nomination of party electoral lists was prevalent in the past, while reducing the age of the allowed candidate from 30 to 28 years in order to provide a greater opportunity for young people in the elections.

Among the important changes in the law is its approval of a new mechanism for dividing constituencies, represented in dividing a single governorate into several constituencies, instead of the governorate being a single constituency. He dealt with the seat distribution system, as it stipulated that the seats in each district be allocated to the winners of the highest votes in succession, regardless of the candidate’s gender, after the number of votes cast for each one within the district was calculated in one round.

The law that came after the October movement was considered a victory for the small forces that are trying to compete and enter parliament. Indeed, in the elections of October 10, 2021, the independent forces were able to enter parliament, as the small forces produced by the movement were able to win seats in Parliament. The “Extension” movement won 9 seats, as did the movement “Cannon Sunshine” has 6 seats.

However, after the House of Representatives approved the “St. Lego” law, the political map of the parliament will not remain as it is. The upcoming elections, according to the new law, will not give way to independent and small forces with a preponderance in Parliament. Rather, the scenario of the pre-2021 elections will be repeated, represented by the return of the traditional forces and their management according to their interests.

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