With the extension of its legislative term.. Will the Iraqi parliament succeed in resolving the budg

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[size=52]With the extension of its legislative term.. Will the Iraqi parliament succeed in resolving the budget and the president?[/size]

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05-10-2024
The Iraqi Council of Representatives decided to extend its first legislative term for the third legislative year of the fifth electoral cycle for a period of 30 days in light of the continuing disagreements to choose a new speaker for the Council, and awaiting the Council of Ministers sending the 2024 budget schedules to Parliament for passage.[/size]
[size=45]The House of Representatives said in a statement yesterday, Thursday, that “based on Article 58 of the Constitution, the Presidency of the House of Representatives decided to extend the first legislative term of the third legislative year, the fifth electoral session, for a period of thirty days.”[/size]
[size=45]This comes after a member of the Parliamentary Legal Committee, Raed Al-Maliki, announced yesterday, Thursday, that the House of Representatives will enter its legislative recess, starting tomorrow, Friday (today).[/size]
[size=45]Extraordinary session[/size]
[size=45]Al-Maliki said, “The House of Representatives ended the first legislative term of the third legislative year on Thursday, and starting tomorrow, Friday, the House will enjoy the legislative recess until next June.”[/size]
[size=45]He explained, “The second legislative term will begin next June 9, and therefore the House of Representatives will enjoy the legislative recess for only one month.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that, “If the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives is agreed upon or the budget tables are sent to the House, Parliament will hold an extraordinary or emergency session to discuss any important event during the legislative recess.”[/size]
[size=45]The Shiite coordination framework announced, after a meeting in Maliki’s office last Monday, its intention to hold a session devoted to choosing a speaker for Parliament after the expiry of a deadline it set of one week, at a time when three Sunni alliances (Sovereignty, Resolve, and National Resolution) announced their support for the framework’s position.[/size]
[size=45]The position of Speaker of the House of Representatives is a Sunni share, according to the prevailing political custom in Iraq since the formation of the political system after the year 2003, while the position of Prime Minister goes to the Shiites, and the President of the Republic goes to the Kurds.[/size]
[size=45]Parliament failed in four attempts to elect a replacement for Al-Halbousi due to the lack of consensus on a single candidate, in light of the Sunni fragmentation and the coordination framework’s insistence on nominating new figures or keeping Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, the first deputy speaker of Parliament, as acting president.[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that three Sunni candidates are currently competing for the position: Salem Al-Issawi, who received 97 votes during the first session held last January, Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, who received 48 votes, and Talal Al-Zubaie, who received one vote.[/size]
[size=45]Optimism to resolve the budget[/size]
[size=45]In this context, Representative Kamel Al-Ugaili says, “Choosing a new speaker for the House of Representatives is up to the other component, which is their share, and they must agree on a personality to move forward with, and that the members of Parliament are waiting for the opinion of the Sunnis to resolve this issue.”[/size]
[size=45]Regarding the budget file, Al-Ugaili pointed out during his speech that “most projects will be delayed if the budget schedules are not approved so that the government can proceed with its clearly visible development work that has touched the needs of citizens, and it is expected that the budget file will be resolved during this month.”[/size]
[size=45]The financial and economic advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mazhar Muhammad Salih, explained that “the delay in the budget does not mean that the House of Representatives is far from communicating with the executive authority, broad consultation, exchanging information, and access to the country’s financial details.”[/size]
[size=45]Saleh confirmed yesterday, Thursday, “Indeed, the House of Representatives is fully informed and appreciates the importance of the time frame for making estimates and building the necessary precise practical and professional applications, especially in the 2024 and 2025 budgets.”[/size]
[size=45]In turn, the Parliamentary Finance Committee revealed, yesterday, Thursday, the reasons for the government’s failure to vote on the 2024 budget schedules and send them to the House of Representatives.[/size]
[size=45]According to committee member Muhammad Nouri, the budget law schedules were supposed to be presented in the previous session of the Council of Ministers, but they were postponed due to the increase in government spending, the large deficit within the budget, and the government’s overrun of the original 2023 budget.[/size]
[size=45]The MP explained, “The government is currently looking to reduce unnecessary expenditures by making financial transfers and expanding non-oil financial revenues, in addition to that the government is also working to reduce the percentage of the deficit in the general budget for the year 2024, which exceeded more than 80 trillion dinars,” suggesting that “ The budget law schedules will be presented in the next session of the Council of Ministers, and we are awaiting their approval and sending them to the House of Representatives.”[/size]
[size=45]Earlier, Acting Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi, agreed with the Prime Minister, Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, on the necessity of completing the schedules of the budget law for the year 2024, and expediting their sending to the House of Representatives for the purpose of discussing and voting on them, due to their connection to the lives of citizens and their focus on investment spending for new projects.[/size]
[size=45]Political and popular circles have been waiting for five months for the approval of Iraq’s budget for the year 2024, the largest and most deficit in its history, amid fears that it will cause financial and economic problems that the government is unable to address, especially after the sudden change in the total amount reaching 228 trillion dinars and a deficit exceeding 80 trillion. .[/size]
[size=45]The repercussions of the president's crisis[/size]
[size=45]The crisis in choosing a new president for the Iraqi Parliament cast a shadow over the Council’s performance, as performance is linked to what is on the agenda of the House of Representatives, and the delay in choosing a new speaker has prevented the House of Representatives from performing many of its duties and the laws proposed on its agenda, according to the writer and political analyst, Saeed Al-Badri.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Badri added to Shafaq News Agency, “Parliament has enacted laws, some of which are for achievement and others are to fill the void. The most important law that has been legislated is the law on combating prostitution and homosexuality, given its connection to the value system of the Iraqi people. As for the main suspended laws, they are many, the most prominent of which is the oil and gas law and other laws related to With Iraqi sovereignty, defining powers, and developing some public sectors, these remained in the Council’s drawers.”[/size]
[size=45]He asserts, “The House of Representatives faces great challenges, and the political blocs and their representatives must decide to elect a president capable of moving the stagnant waters and advancing the work of the House, which needs a lot of development.”[/size]
[size=45]Legislative recess[/size]
[size=45]Regarding the legislative recess, the legal expert, Ali Al-Tamimi, explains that “the Iraqi constitution was frank and clear regarding the legislative recess of the House of Representatives in the text of Article 57 of the Constitution, which said that the House of Representatives has an annual session with two legislative terms lasting 8 months. The bylaws determine how they are held and the term does not end.” The session in which the budget is presented is held only after its approval, and this text is the ruling in determining the legislative term, duration, and recess.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Tamimi adds, “Also, Article 58 of the Constitution said that the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, or 50 members of the House of Representatives may call the House of Representatives to extraordinary sessions, and it will be limited to the topics that called for them to be called. Therefore, the issue of convening and disrupting work returns to Parliament.” By voting on it in accordance with Article 59 of the Iraqi Constitution.”[/size]
[size=45]He continues his speech, “Because Article 59 of the Constitution stipulates that the quorum for the sessions of the House of Representatives is achieved by the presence of an absolute majority of its members, and decisions are taken by a simple majority, which is half the number of attendees plus one after the quorum is achieved, it is a matter of discretion with the presence of a large number of suspended laws estimated at up to 170 laws.”[/size]
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