Difficult tests facing Parliament.. What are the scenarios for the remainder of the current session?

Posted on[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] by [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

[size=52]Difficult tests facing Parliament.. What are the scenarios for the remainder of the current session?[/size]

[size=45]Heads of parliamentary blocs confirmed that Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the new speaker of the parliament, faces a year of difficult tests and the enactment of important laws, while they criticized some of the controversial laws currently being proposed.
Al-Mada reviewed a television interview conducted with Alaa al-Rikabi, head of the parliament’s Imtidad bloc, and Vian Sabri, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party bloc in parliament, who spoke about this matter.
Al-Rikabi said, “The experience of independents is new. All four previous sessions included representatives from the ruling coalition, and the same ones are present in the parliamentary committees.”
He added, “There are 60 independent representatives in parliament, each with his own thinking and hopes. We have commonalities and differences,” explaining, “In the Imtidad movement, we have principles; we reject the American mold in which we were placed after 2003,” indicating that “America overthrew Saddam’s hideous dictatorial regime, but they entrenched nationalism and sectarianism by dividing positions.”
In contrast, Al-Rikabi refused to disclose the candidate his movement voted for as Speaker of the House of Representatives, saying, “The vote is a secret ballot and we cannot talk about it in the media, but we supported the independent candidate, MP Amer Abdul Jabbar.”
The bloc’s head said, “We believe that anyone has the right to run for any position, and voting for Al-Mashhadani was not ideal, but we respect the parliament’s decision.”
Al-Rikabi described Al-Mashhadani’s selection as “bargaining and a political game,” explaining that “in 2022, the political forces objected to Al-Mashhadani, a quarrel broke out and the man went to the hospital, and today the same forces returned to say that they support him.”
The representative considered that “due to the difference in balances, Al-Mashhadani has become acceptable,” noting that “the parliament remaining without a speaker for a year is evidence of a defect and the imposition of wills.”
Al-Rikabi said, “Al-Mashhadani is now facing a challenge. Can he make a difference in the work of Al-Mandlawi or Al-Halbousi?”
The head of the Imtidad bloc confirmed that “the MP is restricted, and the ministries and departments prevent the MP from receiving the ministry to monitor the institutions, and we cannot request a direct visit to a ministry, but a request must be submitted to the parliament presidency and it may be rejected.”
The MP explained that “we submitted requests to question ministers, all of which were rejected. We did not question any minister, and the reason is that the blocs that formed the government are the same ones controlling the files, and one is silent about the other.”
He added that “in parliament, we started voting on laws related to olive oil, and some laws are added to and amended at the last minute, via phone calls from political leaders. Neither the MPs nor even the relevant committees know about the amendments.”
In the same file, Vian Sabri said that “after the election of Al-Mashhadani, the parliament’s situation should be better.”
She stressed that “we voted for Al-Mashhadani because he became a consensus among the Shiite and Kurdish forces around him.”
She added that “Al-Mashhadani has political experience and is accepted by all political forces, and he contributed to writing the constitution, and these are points that are credited to him.”
The head of the Democratic Party bloc said: “We heard from Al-Mashhadani that he will work on consensus regarding the controversial laws individually, and this is the best way to get rid of the stalled laws.”
She explained that “no law is passed unless there are at least 167 to vote on it, and this is difficult to achieve if there is no consensus.”
Sabry went on to talk about the Personal Status Law, and stressed that her bloc has objections to the Code because it is “unclear, just as we object to marriage outside the courts.”
She said, “The constitution must be respected, and the rights of women and children must be guaranteed, and many Shiite MPs object to the law.”
Sabry pointed out that “the parliament has important laws in the remaining year of the council’s term; such as the Federal Court Law, the Federal Council Law, the Commission Law, the Anti-Terrorism Law, and the Law to Cancel the Decisions of the Revolutionary Command Council.”
In the same file, Al-Rikabi said, “The basis of any legislation is that it addresses a general phenomenon,” indicating that “Personal Status Law No. 188 has been amended about 20 times, and from 2003 until now it has not been amended, so what are the problems that have emerged that require amending the law now?”
The head of the Imtidad bloc considered that “it is unprecedented to vote on a non-existent Code. How can we vote on empty content?” He pointed out that “the Sunni MPs have made up their minds regarding the Personal Status Law, and there is no Sunni Code.”
He added: “We asked not to rush the passage of the law because it is an incorrect precedent, and it could be repeated in criminal and penal laws, so that we vote on the amendment and the code comes later.”
Al-Rikabi said that “most of the supporters of the amendment are separated men, and the objectors are women because of the article on custody.”
As for the general amnesty law, Al-Rikabi confirmed that “in the liberated areas, young men were imprisoned with harsh sentences because of secret informants, and a group was sentenced by hearing for cooperating with ISIS.”
He added: “We need a retrial for these groups,” while warning against “drug addicts turning into dealers, so the addict should be included in the amnesty and go to the clinic.”
Al-Rikabi explained that “there is a group that was imprisoned for simple cases and with few sentences, this group can be released, and the prisoner can complete his sentence with public service instead of the state spending money on him.”
Al-Rikabi continued by saying: “So far, no representative has received a final copy of the amnesty law, although it was presented for a vote.”[/size]
[size=45]Regarding the situation in Nasiriyah, Al-Rikabi said, “We met for more than an hour with Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani, and explained to him that there were 31 lawsuits against young people three or four years ago, most of which were posts about the protests.”
He added, “Al-Sudani understood our words, and we explained to him that there were human rights violations and the extraction of confessions, and he said that there would be procedures in two days.”
Al-Rikabi revealed the visit of “the head of the Judicial Council, Faiq Zidane, which we did not announce so as not to embarrass anyone and so that the head of the judiciary takes his decisions flexibly. We also visited Baghdad Airport Prison, where about 20 defendants were transferred from Nasiriyah to the airport.”[/size]
[size=45][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]