After 9 months.. the last “struggles” of the political forces to elect a new speaker of the House of

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[size=52]After 9 months.. the last “struggles” of the political forces to elect a new speaker of the House of Representatives[/size]

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2024-08-13
Political forces are holding continuous dialogues and meetings among themselves to reach a solution to the problem of the presidency of the House of Representatives, which has been delayed for more than nine months after the dismissal of Mohammed al-Halbousi in November 2023, while politicians confirm that the only solution is to amend the internal regulations of the Council and allow the candidacy door to be opened again and replace the previous candidates for the position of president, which is rejected by the Coordination Framework and Sunni forces.[/size]
[size=45]Former MP Kamel Nawaf Al-Ghariri says, “The vacancy of the position of Speaker of Parliament has harmed the political work of all Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish parties, and it is expected that Al-Halbousi’s recent rounds with the political forces will lead to fruitful results in deciding the position of Speaker of Parliament.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Ghariri pointed out during his speech that “amending the internal regulations of the House of Representatives is the only solution. As for the Federal Court’s decision that prevents re-nomination again, the court has nothing to do with this issue. Rather, there is a special internal regulation within the parliament dome,” he said.[/size]
[size=45]He stressed that, “If there is an amendment to the internal regulations, the issue will be resolved and the representatives will choose the most worthy to hold the position of Speaker of Parliament. However, if this procrastination and verbal tension between politicians continues, no result will be reached.”[/size]
[size=45]The current political dispute revolves around amending the third paragraph of Article 12 of the House of Representatives’ internal regulations, which relates to the election of the Speaker of Parliament, which states: “If the position of the Speaker of the House or any of his deputies becomes vacant for any reason, the House shall elect a successor by an absolute majority in the first session it holds to fill the vacancy in accordance with the controls of political balances between the blocs.”[/size]
[size=45]However, some political blocs propose adding a paragraph that gives the authority to open the nomination process again and replace previous candidates for the position of Parliament Speaker.[/size]
[size=45]Nominations are now open[/size]
[size=45]Therefore, Azm Al-Hamdani, a member of the Azm Alliance, says, “The Sunni position is fixed towards the candidate Salem Al-Issawi, and the Azm and Sovereignty Alliance is with the Federal Court’s decision to prevent amending the internal regulations, considering that the Federal Court’s decision was a special and restrictive decision, so opening the nomination is considered a violation of the law and the constitution.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Hamdani added, “It is necessary to hold an extraordinary session and agree on the candidates who ran in the first and second rounds, represented by Salem Al-Issawi and the rest of the other candidates. In that case, the authority of the law will be above the authority of political agreements.”[/size]
[size=45]He points out that “the entitlement to the position of Speaker of Parliament is an entitlement of a component, just as the position of Prime Minister is an entitlement of the Shiite component, and the position of President of the Republic is an entitlement of the Kurdish house. Political custom after 2003 did not speak in the name of a party, family, or person, so the position of Speaker of Parliament is an entitlement of the Sunni political house.”[/size]
[size=45]“As for the numerical majority, Al-Azm demanded more than one statement on the necessity of holding a session, and this demand is explained by the fact that we have the numerical majority, and we are also part of the state administration coalition, and this coalition has three main parties that represent the Sunni house, which are (Al-Azm, Al-Siyada, and Taqadum), and (Al-Azm and Al-Siyada) by their agreement constitute a majority, and thus the numerical majority is with us.”[/size]
[size=45]He notes, “As for what is currently being circulated in the media about the existence of compromise candidates, it is merely a media distortion and the purpose of these leaks is to manipulate the minds of some of the representatives who are seeking the position of Speaker of Parliament, on the basis that they may obtain this position if they abandon their support for Salem Al-Issawi. These are merely baseless media assumptions, and they are also intended to increase the division within the Sunni political house.”[/size]
[size=45]Sunni forces present a new candidate[/size]
[size=45]Earlier on Tuesday, six Sunni parliamentary forces announced that they would nominate a new candidate to replace the dismissed Mohammed al-Halbousi as Speaker of Parliament, stressing that they have a parliamentary majority.[/size]
[size=45]The parties and blocs, Progress, National Masses, National Decisiveness, Leadership, Iraqi National Project, and Initiative, stated in a joint statement received by Shafaq News Agency that they had reached an agreement on nominating a person for the presidency of the Council of Representatives.[/size]
[size=45]The parties and blocs confirmed in a statement, “After a series of discussions, dialogues and meetings with the national political spectrum, the political forces representing the Sunni component mentioned below (55 representatives) agreed to nominate a new candidate to assume the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to present him to the national political blocs to support the nomination and obtain national acceptance to settle this entitlement, and to work on taking the necessary measures to open the door to nomination.”[/size]
[size=45]She pointed out that “the election of the head of the legislative authority, nominated by the clear and absolute Sunni majority, comes to complete the remaining period of the fifth legislative session, perform constitutional duties, and complete the political agreement paper and what it includes in terms of legislation and laws that serve the people and achieve the government program with its legislative aspects.”[/size]
[size=45]The framework rejects amending Article 12[/size]
[size=45]The agency obtained information about the Coordination Framework’s agreement not to amend Article 12 of the House of Representatives’ internal regulations, and the competition will be between Salem Al-Issawi, Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, Talal Al-Zubaie, and Amer Abdul-Jabbar for the position of Parliament Speaker in the session scheduled to be held next Thursday.[/size]
[size=45]Independent politician Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Dulaimi says, “The issue of changing or replacing Article 12 or opening the door for nominations is impossible to happen, because if it happens, any candidate who wins will appeal to the Federal Court, and thus Federal Court Decision No. 132 of 2023, which prohibited tampering with Article 12 after candidates entered the vote, will be broken.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Dulaimi added: “I completed my discussions with members of the framework and the majority is against it, except for one or two blocs due to the existence of agreements with the first opinion (Al-Halbousi and the Progress Group). I also spoke a short while ago with Nouri al-Maliki and inquired about the parliament session scheduled for next Thursday. He officially informed me that the Coordination Framework met today and yesterday at Haider al-Abadi’s house and agreed on final decisions that will be issued in a statement that there will be no amendment to Article 12 and that the competition will be between Salem al-Issawi, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, Talal al-Zubaidi and Amer Abdul-Jabbar, and the competition will intensify between Salem al-Issawi and Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.”[/size]
[size=45]Yesterday, Monday, a source in the Coordination Framework said that the leaders of the Coordination Framework stressed in a meeting (yesterday, Monday) their adherence to the law and the decision of the Federal Court and not resorting to amending the internal regulations of the House of Representatives.[/size]
[size=45]He added that the leaders of the Coordination Framework confirmed that they are against the idea of ​​reopening the nomination process for the position of Parliament Speaker again, and keeping the candidates, so that one of them is chosen for the position of Parliament Speaker.[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that the attendees agreed to hold a special session of the House of Representatives after the Arbaeen visit to elect a new Speaker of the House of Representatives.[/size]
[size=45]However, the prominent leader in the Coordination Framework, Amer Al-Fayez, said that the Sunni political forces did not reach an agreement despite being given several opportunities by the Coordination Framework and the Kurdish political forces.[/size]
[size=45]He added that matters are still subject to dialogue between the Sunni political forces, and that is why the issue was postponed until after the Arbaeen visit, with the hope of reaching an agreement between the Sunni political forces. Otherwise, the Coordination Framework, in agreement with the Kurdish forces, will take a position to resolve the issue.[/size]
[size=45]“No result so far”[/size]
[size=45]In this context, the representative of the State of Law Coalition, Aref Al-Hamami, says, “The meetings, discussions, and dialogues are ongoing, but up until this hour there is no result, and despite the House of Representatives holding two sessions to elect the president, none of the candidates has achieved the legal threshold for one of them to win.”[/size]
[size=45]During his speech, Al-Hamami expressed his hope that “the brothers will agree on one candidate in order to facilitate the process of passing him through the House of Representatives, and the best solution is agreement.”[/size]
[size=45]Meanwhile, the leader of the State of Law Coalition, Saad Al-Mutalibi, said earlier that “the differences between the Sunni political forces are still ongoing and are unresolved, especially since the issue of electing the Speaker of Parliament cannot be resolved without an agreement between Mohammed Al-Halbousi and Khamis Al-Khanjar, and there is no agreement between the two parties so far.”[/size]
[size=45]It is worth noting that the State of Law Coalition, led by Nouri al-Maliki, expected on Monday of last week that Mohsen al-Mandalawi would continue as Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives until the end of the current (fifth) parliamentary session.[/size]
[size=45]The position of the Shiite component[/size]
[size=45]In this regard, political analyst Hussein Al-Sabaawi says, “The Shiite component is obstructing the election of a new speaker of the House of Representatives in order for his first deputy to monopolize this council. This was noticed after the dismissal of Al-Halbousi, as there are many laws that were enacted with a sectarian spirit, including the Personal Status Law.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Sabawi explains that “the constitution and constitutional norms indicate that the House of Representatives is the share of the Sunni component, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives is from the winning bloc within the Sunni house, but there are obstacles and an attempt to tear apart the Progress Bloc headed by Mohammed al-Halbousi and then buy some representatives and change their positions and some defect, and all of these aim to obstruct the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Sabaawi attributes the “hostility between Halbousi and the framework” to “the former’s previous positions and his alliance with Muqtada al-Sadr, or due to external motives that wanted to exclude Halbousi, but today the issue has become the exclusion of a component and not the exclusion of a politician, because the Coordination Framework and the Shiite coalition since 2003 do not want there to be a Sunni leader who has a mass following and is acceptable to the Sunni community, but rather they want a follower who implements what is dictated to him.”[/size]
[size=45]“America also has a role in this matter, as it is still the first power in Iraq and has influence in the political affairs of all Iraqi affairs. If there was no American approval for this behavior, the Coordination Framework would not have been able to impose its will in this way. It is true that Iran supports the Coordination Framework, but Iran is not considered number one in Iraq if it were not for American approval, which is the reason for the exclusion of the Sunni component and many other things, as there is a duality in American dealings between the components that led to this current situation in Iraq,” he said.[/size]
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