New development in the parliament presidency crisis.. Learn the details

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[size=52]New development in the parliament presidency crisis.. Learn the details[/size]

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2024-09-19
Baghdad
The political arena is witnessing a state of contradiction and tension regarding the issue of deciding the position of Parliament Speaker, as divisions and the search for partisan interests are still the master of the situation regarding the vacancy of this position that has been suspended since last year.[/size]
[size=45]However, in a new development, the representative of the Coordination Framework, Madiha Al-Maksousi, revealed today, Thursday, that parliamentary signatures were collected to add a new candidate for the position of Parliament Speaker.[/size]
[size=45]Since the Federal Supreme Court issued a decision on November 14, 2023 to terminate the membership of Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi on charges of “forgery” filed by MP Laith al-Dulaimi, the Parliament has been unable to elect a new speaker due to disagreements between Sunni blocs, as the “Progress” bloc led by al-Halbousi insists on the position, while the “Sovereignty” bloc led by Khamis al-Khanjar and other Sunni blocs consider the position a right for the Sunni component as a whole.[/size]
[size=45]The competition for the parliament presidency is limited to Salem Al-Issawi from Anbar Governorate, the candidate of the Sovereignty Alliance led by Khamis Al-Khanjar, and Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani from Baghdad, who enjoys some support from Al-Halbousi and some Shiite blocs.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Maksousi said in a statement followed by “Al-Alam Al-Jadeed” that “the parliament session yesterday was not held due to the lack of a legal quorum and was postponed until further notice,” noting that “a number of parliament members collected parliamentary signatures today, Thursday, in order to add another candidate for the presidency of parliament.”[/size]
[size=45]She added that "the step of collecting parliamentary signatures reminds us of what happened with the Kurdish representatives during the period of electing the President of the Republic in the first period of forming the current government," noting that "the issue of the presidency of parliament is in the court of the Sunni representatives and we demand that they expedite its resolution."[/size]
[size=45]She pointed out that "Sunni differences have not produced any solution to this crisis until this moment," stressing that "the Coordination Framework is trying to resolve the issue and not continue to disrupt the work of the Parliament Presidency."[/size]
[size=45]She stressed that "the meetings within the State Administration Coalition stress the need to expedite the resolution of the issue, as obstructing it would have a major impact on the political process."[/size]
[size=45]MP Kazem Al-Shammari confirmed yesterday, Wednesday, that there is collusion between the parliament presidency and other political parties to not decide on the position of parliament speaker, indicating that former parliament speaker Mohammed Al-Halbousi is seeking to delay deciding on the position to send a message that no one else is suitable for the position.[/size]
[size=45]On August 27, the Victory Coalition, led by Haider al-Abadi, complained about the impact of Sunni differences over the presidency of parliament on the Coordination Framework.[/size]
[size=45]On August 14, the State of Law Coalition, led by Nouri al-Maliki, revealed the possibility of amending the internal regulations of the Iraqi parliament, something that the head of the Progress Party, Mohammed al-Halbousi, has long called for, to allow the nomination of a candidate from his party to succeed him.[/size]
[size=45]This comes after six Sunni parliamentary forces announced that they would nominate a new candidate to fill the position of Speaker of Parliament instead of the dismissed Mohammed al-Halbousi, stressing that they have a parliamentary majority.[/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]It is noteworthy that the head of the Sovereignty Alliance, Khamis Al-Khanjar, confirmed on June 25 that what is happening in the Sunni house regarding the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives is differences, not disputes, and will be resolved soon, pointing to the intervention of the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani, in the crisis.[/size]
[size=45]Voting for the Speaker of the House of Representatives requires a quorum of half plus one of the number of seats in Parliament, which the Sunni forces do not have, as the number is 166 representatives, and the Progress Party, which has the majority of Sunni seats, only has about 35 seats.[/size]
[size=45]On May 18, the House of Representatives failed to elect a new speaker, after failing to hold a “decisive” third round to tip the scales in favor of one of the candidates, MP Salem Al-Issawi from the Sovereignty Party, and Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, who is supported by the Progress Party.[/size]
[size=45]The voting witnessed a fierce competition between MPs Salem Al-Issawi and Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, as the former received 158 votes, while the latter received 137 votes. MP Amer Abdul-Jabbar also received 3 votes, while the invalid votes amounted to 13 votes. 311 MPs (out of a total of 329) cast their votes in the first round, which began at 4:00 pm Baghdad time.[/size]
[size=45]However, the third round did not see the light of day due to a quarrel between the representatives that developed into a fistfight, as the representatives’ phones documented a verbal altercation and fistfight between representatives from Progress and colleagues from other blocs over the election of a parliament speaker.[/size]
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