Iraqi parliament studying the formation of «notables Council» New

15-08-2013

Talk | Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | 15.08.2013

Iraqi parliament seeks to restore an old political tradition dates back to the monarchy in the country between (1921-1958) embodied the formation of a new legislative body to work alongside parliament called the designation "the Federation Council."

"Federation Council" or "Senate" as he called Iraqis in the monarchy is a Senate supplementing the work of the House of Representatives in the United States, or the House of Lords in Britain, with the difference on the powers and the method of selecting its members.

He says a member of the Committee of the Regions and the provinces in Parliament MP Ziad worldwide abolition of the "debate" that "the outline of the law on the formation of the Federation Council is almost complete, but the controversy in parliament is about the number of board members and how their choice.

Worldwide abolition explained that "the initial agreement includes that there be four representatives from each province, but there are demands to grant Baghdad a greater share capital on the grounds that it and its inhabitants the most, while calling for religious minorities and ethnic nationalism and the allocation of" quota "them within the Council.

Article 46 of the Iraqi Constitution states that "the legislature consists of the House of Representatives and the Federation Council," while Article 62 on "Create a legislative council called the Federation Council includes representatives of the regions and governorates that are not organized in a region, and regulates the composition and membership conditions, and terms of reference and all that the law enacted with a majority of two-thirds of the members of the House of Representatives. "

But the authors of the Iraqi constitution in 2005 added another material number 133 stipulates "postpone action tightly Federation Council materials wherever they appear in this constitution pending a decision of the Council of Representatives by a two-thirds majority in the second election session that convened after the entry into force of the Constitution."

This article disrupted the formation of a "Council of the Union" at the first parliamentary session (2005-2009) With the start of the second parliamentary session (2010-2014) is allowed to start discussing where deputies ended, according to deputies in the Parliament Committees legal, regions and provinces preliminary draft decision.

According to counsel Yusuf Khan said that the importance of the formation of the Federation Council for being the control of the parliament, which is not subject to control by any political body.

But Khan said the "talk" that he would prefer to be members of social figures and veteran politicians and military veterans to be a center of expertise.

It seems that the success of the Iraqi parliament on 23 June last year in the adoption of a law the powers of the provinces, who support the decentralization of the system of governance and the deployment of more powers to local governments in cities, encouraged the political forces to claim the revival of the law, "the Federation Council" to devote more decentralized management country.

According to the discussions between the House and the relevant committees, the initial draft of the law, "the Federation Council" Mnanha the task of defending the powers of provincial security and administrative vast approved by Parliament in the twenty-third of June last year, of any attempt by the government or the parliament to reduce them.

Among the most prominent powers "Federation Council," according to the preliminary draft of the Law Council that got "Talk", a copy of which, the Council has veto power over laws and regulations issued by the parliament and the government in the event which saw irregularities.

Laws that Senqdha the Federation Council will return to Parliament again for the purpose of amendment or cancellation, but in the case could parliament voted on again two-thirds of the members of this law will be effective, while the Federation Council can not enact laws, but submit the proposals.

On the other powers of the members of the Council is right to attend parliament sessions and discuss the issues raised in the corridors but they are not entitled to vote on them, are also entitled to the President of the House of Representatives that calls for the Federation Council to discuss important laws.

In addition to the foregoing, the resolutions of the "Federation Council" binding on the legislative and executive authorities because it would force the government to implement laws passed by the Parliament by observing the work of the government in this new legislation.

Unlike the "senate", which was the case in the monarchy in Iraq, members of the "Federation Council" will be elected by the people and applies to them as it applies to the deputy in the parliament of the privileges and immunity and method of election.

In the monarchy, members of the Senate are appointed by the King personally and its members is often Mikonon of the clan elders and clerics, military officers and veterans and merchants.

Parliamentary Committee, which is considering the formulation of the law of the formation of the Council to suggest that the differences are no longer beyond the formal and procedural matters, such as the number of representatives of each province in the new quota of women and minorities.

But the MP for the block "Iraq," Adnan al-Janabi said the "debate" that "a few powers of the Council, which requires re-consideration and increase."

The importance of the Federation Council according to the initial draft is that it is a fundamental pillar of the revision of the Standing in regards to the relationship between the Government of the Centre and the governments of the regions and provinces on one side, and between the government and parliament on the other, especially as the differences between the parties amounted to the most and proceeded to exchange accusations of responsibility for security crises and political ravaging the country.

Political blocs in support of the bill, which blocks "the Kurdistan Alliance" and "Iraq" and the Sadrists are the same that supports decentralization in Iraq and agreed previously to law powers of the provinces, but the most prominent blocs that are still conservative on some paragraphs of the law of the Federation Council is the "rule of law" led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The MP says the "rule of law" Khalid al-Asadi's "Talk" that "members of the Federation Council discrimination by giving them the right to veto laws is not consistent with the Constitution, and must be the parliament is the supreme authority in the country because it includes elected representatives of the people directly."

The MP for the "Kurdish Alliance" Mahmoud Othman infinite mass of proposals taking into account the share of the Kurdistan region of its members, and demands recourse to international expertise to the formulation of the law.

But the adoption of a law the formation of the Union is not an easy task, as the Constitution required the approval of two-thirds of the members of Parliament to pass any 217 deputy out of 325, and this mechanism is rarely difficult to succeed in Parliament achieved.

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