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In recent days, there has been renewed talk about the possibility of Iraq moving towards holding early legislative elections before the end of the current parliamentary session, which is scheduled to end in October 2025, through the controversial laws that parliament failed to pass during the past period due to the many disagreements over them, which raises questions about whether the threat of early elections is an attempt to pressure the government or a political maneuver to reset the rules of the game in the country.
Independent MP Mohammed Al-Ziyadi revealed a parliamentary movement to end the work of parliament and hold early elections after parliament failed to legislate important disputed laws.
The Shiite representatives in parliament insist on passing the Personal Status Law, which is considered a radical amendment to Law No. 188, which was enacted in 1959 during the era of Abdul Karim Qasim, while the Sunnis demand passing a general amnesty law, while the Kurds seek to pass a law to return properties to their owners that were taken from them during the era of the former regime. Since there are fundamental differences regarding each of these laws, they have been called “controversial laws,” such that passing any one of them requires passing the other laws.
The House of Representatives entered a legislative session recess after extending it for 30 days based on Article 58 of the Iraqi Constitution. Consequently, that period has ended and it has become obligatory to enter a recess from December 9 of this year to January 9, 2025.
Al-Ziyadi said, in a statement followed by “Al-Alam Al-Jadeed”, that “the House of Representatives, during the period of extending the legislative term, was unable to legislate important and disputed laws,” stressing that “the heads of the political blocs were unable to manage the sessions.”
Al-Ziyadi continued: “If the legislative role of the House of Representatives continues to be disrupted after the holiday and in the next legislative session, we will collect signatures to demand early elections and the end of this council, which is no longer able to provide services to the citizen or the country.”
He explained, saying: “After the legislative holiday and in the next legislative session, we will submit a request to the Council Presidency to hold early elections for the House of Representatives by amending the elections law and setting a date for holding legislative elections in the country.”
On December 9, Member of Parliament Kazem Al-Fayyadh announced that controversial laws in the Council would be postponed until the beginning of the new year due to ongoing disagreements over them.
Political observers expect the three controversial laws to be passed during the new legislative session of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, to be a card for political blocs to exploit electorally. Therefore, it is likely that an agreement will be reached on them a few months before the next parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to be held by October 2025.
The Iraqi Council of Representatives failed to hold its 20th regular session on Sunday, December 8, to vote on proposed laws, Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959, the return of properties to their owners covered by some decisions of the dissolved Revolutionary Command Council, and the second amendment to the General Amnesty Law No. 27 of 2016.
The delay in approving many important laws is likely to weaken the legislative and oversight role of the House of Representatives, according to political observers, who criticize the parliament’s resort to the principle of political consensus, which has led to the postponement of important laws that the Iraqi street is anticipating.
It is noteworthy that the issue of passing controversial and controversial laws through the so-called “one-basket” system is not new to the Iraqi parliament. It is a procedure that is resorted to in the event that disagreements over a particular law reach a dead end, in a way that enhances the interests of the political blocs and their sectarian, factional and regional polarizations.
The amendment to the Personal Status Law faces major objections, as legal experts and civil activists warned, in a previous report by “Al-Alam Al-Jadeed,” of the amendments that the parliament intends to make to the law. While they confirmed that they could undermine one of the most important Iraqi legislations, they pointed out that the amendments place the authority of sects and religious men in a higher position than the authority of the judiciary and the law.
The amendment to the general amnesty law also faces objections and concerns that it will include those convicted of terrorism and belonging to ISIS. This amendment is one of the main demands of most Sunni forces, and was among the most prominent conditions they set in the negotiations to form the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani before voting on it in parliament in October 2022.
As for returning the properties to their owners, the five Kurdish blocs in the House of Representatives announced last September that they would unify their position to support a draft law aimed at cancelling the Baath Party’s decisions regarding agricultural lands in the areas covered by Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution.
Kurdish MPs and officials say that the draft law concerns properties that are to be returned to their original Kurdish and Turkmen owners, and that were confiscated under 8 decisions issued by the dissolved Revolutionary Command Council during the years from 1975 to 1979, and the aim of which was to carry out demographic changes in the disputed areas.
Last month, Iraq witnessed political movement by political blocs within the Coordination Framework, led by the State of Law Coalition, to amend the election law with the aim of limiting the ambitions of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who is seeking a second term, and reducing the chances of independent candidates, according to observers and specialists.
MPs had acknowledged the difficulty of amending the election law, due to the political division between the major political blocs, noting that each political party will work to pass the law in a manner that serves its party interests, and therefore this amendment was postponed until the controversial laws that have been pending for months without being voted on are resolved.
The general program of Al-Sudani's government, which the Iraqi parliament granted confidence on October 27, 2022, includes a set of items and axes, the most prominent of which are establishing security and stability, addressing the problems of poverty and unemployment, resuming work on important projects, and combating corruption. It also includes an item stipulating the holding of early parliamentary elections.
It is worth noting that Iraq has witnessed the enactment of six electoral laws since 2003. The first was during the transitional state phase, when all of Iraq was one electoral district, with the approval of closed electoral lists.
Although the electoral law (No. 16 of 2005) adopted closed lists and the electoral quotient system in calculating votes and distributing seats, it divided Iraq into 18 electoral districts, and continued to be in effect until 2010, after which it witnessed an amendment represented by the adoption of semi-open electoral lists.
In 2014, Parliament issued a new electoral law, adopting the Sainte-Lague system according to the 1.7 equation, but this equation witnessed a change in the 2018 elections, which witnessed the issuance of a new electoral law adopting the 1.9 equation.
The law underwent a radical change in 2020, in response to the demands of the October protests (fall 2019), as it relied on the majority instead of proportionality, and divided the governorate, which in previous laws was a single district, into several electoral districts, which contributed to the victory of dozens of independents for the first time, and a decline in the chances of most of the major parties that were unable to achieve a majority, which prompted the traditional parties to seek to change the law, which actually happened on March 27, 2023, months before the provincial council elections were held.
The statements of former Deputy Prime Minister Bahaa al-Araji last August about the existence of a “framework-presidential” deal being worked on to amend the elections law and reduce the electoral popularity of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, had angered the presidency, which described them as “rumors” in order to confuse the political arena, threatening to sue him.
It is noteworthy that the House of Representatives voted during its session held on March 27, 2023, in the presence of 218 representatives, on the “Third Amendment to the Law on Elections of the House of Representatives, Provincial and District Councils No. (12) of 2018.”
The recent amendments included the cancellation of the system in effect in the October 2021 elections, and the new electoral system adopted a multi-constituency system and divided the country geographically into 83 constituencies instead of the old system, which specified that each governorate represents one electoral constituency.
According to politicians, emerging parties and independent candidates have benefited from the multi-district law, which grants a candidate direct victory through the number of voters for him, but the single-district system gives the electoral list the votes of the voters for the candidates within this list. However, observers of Iraqi affairs believe that the recent amendments strengthen the dominance of traditional parties at the expense of emerging forces.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
In recent days, there has been renewed talk about the possibility of Iraq moving towards holding early legislative elections before the end of the current parliamentary session, which is scheduled to end in October 2025, through the controversial laws that parliament failed to pass during the past period due to the many disagreements over them, which raises questions about whether the threat of early elections is an attempt to pressure the government or a political maneuver to reset the rules of the game in the country.
Independent MP Mohammed Al-Ziyadi revealed a parliamentary movement to end the work of parliament and hold early elections after parliament failed to legislate important disputed laws.
The Shiite representatives in parliament insist on passing the Personal Status Law, which is considered a radical amendment to Law No. 188, which was enacted in 1959 during the era of Abdul Karim Qasim, while the Sunnis demand passing a general amnesty law, while the Kurds seek to pass a law to return properties to their owners that were taken from them during the era of the former regime. Since there are fundamental differences regarding each of these laws, they have been called “controversial laws,” such that passing any one of them requires passing the other laws.
The House of Representatives entered a legislative session recess after extending it for 30 days based on Article 58 of the Iraqi Constitution. Consequently, that period has ended and it has become obligatory to enter a recess from December 9 of this year to January 9, 2025.
Al-Ziyadi said, in a statement followed by “Al-Alam Al-Jadeed”, that “the House of Representatives, during the period of extending the legislative term, was unable to legislate important and disputed laws,” stressing that “the heads of the political blocs were unable to manage the sessions.”
Al-Ziyadi continued: “If the legislative role of the House of Representatives continues to be disrupted after the holiday and in the next legislative session, we will collect signatures to demand early elections and the end of this council, which is no longer able to provide services to the citizen or the country.”
He explained, saying: “After the legislative holiday and in the next legislative session, we will submit a request to the Council Presidency to hold early elections for the House of Representatives by amending the elections law and setting a date for holding legislative elections in the country.”
On December 9, Member of Parliament Kazem Al-Fayyadh announced that controversial laws in the Council would be postponed until the beginning of the new year due to ongoing disagreements over them.
Political observers expect the three controversial laws to be passed during the new legislative session of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, to be a card for political blocs to exploit electorally. Therefore, it is likely that an agreement will be reached on them a few months before the next parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to be held by October 2025.
The Iraqi Council of Representatives failed to hold its 20th regular session on Sunday, December 8, to vote on proposed laws, Personal Status Law No. 188 of 1959, the return of properties to their owners covered by some decisions of the dissolved Revolutionary Command Council, and the second amendment to the General Amnesty Law No. 27 of 2016.
The delay in approving many important laws is likely to weaken the legislative and oversight role of the House of Representatives, according to political observers, who criticize the parliament’s resort to the principle of political consensus, which has led to the postponement of important laws that the Iraqi street is anticipating.
It is noteworthy that the issue of passing controversial and controversial laws through the so-called “one-basket” system is not new to the Iraqi parliament. It is a procedure that is resorted to in the event that disagreements over a particular law reach a dead end, in a way that enhances the interests of the political blocs and their sectarian, factional and regional polarizations.
The amendment to the Personal Status Law faces major objections, as legal experts and civil activists warned, in a previous report by “Al-Alam Al-Jadeed,” of the amendments that the parliament intends to make to the law. While they confirmed that they could undermine one of the most important Iraqi legislations, they pointed out that the amendments place the authority of sects and religious men in a higher position than the authority of the judiciary and the law.
The amendment to the general amnesty law also faces objections and concerns that it will include those convicted of terrorism and belonging to ISIS. This amendment is one of the main demands of most Sunni forces, and was among the most prominent conditions they set in the negotiations to form the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani before voting on it in parliament in October 2022.
As for returning the properties to their owners, the five Kurdish blocs in the House of Representatives announced last September that they would unify their position to support a draft law aimed at cancelling the Baath Party’s decisions regarding agricultural lands in the areas covered by Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution.
Kurdish MPs and officials say that the draft law concerns properties that are to be returned to their original Kurdish and Turkmen owners, and that were confiscated under 8 decisions issued by the dissolved Revolutionary Command Council during the years from 1975 to 1979, and the aim of which was to carry out demographic changes in the disputed areas.
Last month, Iraq witnessed political movement by political blocs within the Coordination Framework, led by the State of Law Coalition, to amend the election law with the aim of limiting the ambitions of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who is seeking a second term, and reducing the chances of independent candidates, according to observers and specialists.
MPs had acknowledged the difficulty of amending the election law, due to the political division between the major political blocs, noting that each political party will work to pass the law in a manner that serves its party interests, and therefore this amendment was postponed until the controversial laws that have been pending for months without being voted on are resolved.
The general program of Al-Sudani's government, which the Iraqi parliament granted confidence on October 27, 2022, includes a set of items and axes, the most prominent of which are establishing security and stability, addressing the problems of poverty and unemployment, resuming work on important projects, and combating corruption. It also includes an item stipulating the holding of early parliamentary elections.
It is worth noting that Iraq has witnessed the enactment of six electoral laws since 2003. The first was during the transitional state phase, when all of Iraq was one electoral district, with the approval of closed electoral lists.
Although the electoral law (No. 16 of 2005) adopted closed lists and the electoral quotient system in calculating votes and distributing seats, it divided Iraq into 18 electoral districts, and continued to be in effect until 2010, after which it witnessed an amendment represented by the adoption of semi-open electoral lists.
In 2014, Parliament issued a new electoral law, adopting the Sainte-Lague system according to the 1.7 equation, but this equation witnessed a change in the 2018 elections, which witnessed the issuance of a new electoral law adopting the 1.9 equation.
The law underwent a radical change in 2020, in response to the demands of the October protests (fall 2019), as it relied on the majority instead of proportionality, and divided the governorate, which in previous laws was a single district, into several electoral districts, which contributed to the victory of dozens of independents for the first time, and a decline in the chances of most of the major parties that were unable to achieve a majority, which prompted the traditional parties to seek to change the law, which actually happened on March 27, 2023, months before the provincial council elections were held.
The statements of former Deputy Prime Minister Bahaa al-Araji last August about the existence of a “framework-presidential” deal being worked on to amend the elections law and reduce the electoral popularity of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, had angered the presidency, which described them as “rumors” in order to confuse the political arena, threatening to sue him.
It is noteworthy that the House of Representatives voted during its session held on March 27, 2023, in the presence of 218 representatives, on the “Third Amendment to the Law on Elections of the House of Representatives, Provincial and District Councils No. (12) of 2018.”
The recent amendments included the cancellation of the system in effect in the October 2021 elections, and the new electoral system adopted a multi-constituency system and divided the country geographically into 83 constituencies instead of the old system, which specified that each governorate represents one electoral constituency.
According to politicians, emerging parties and independent candidates have benefited from the multi-district law, which grants a candidate direct victory through the number of voters for him, but the single-district system gives the electoral list the votes of the voters for the candidates within this list. However, observers of Iraqi affairs believe that the recent amendments strengthen the dominance of traditional parties at the expense of emerging forces.
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