Iraqi judiciary deems Kurdish Regional Parliament unconstitutional
In Iraq, the confrontation between Baghdad and the autonomous region of Kurdistan continues. On Tuesday 30 May, the Iraqi Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the one-year extension of the mandate of the Kurdish Regional Parliament. This extension was voted after a failure to organize elections.
The Kurdish flag flies in a square in Erbil, October 4, 2017. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari
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With our correspondent in Baghdad, Marie-Charlotte Roupie
The elections to the Iraqi Kurdish Parliament should have been held last October. But since the two main parties were unable to agree on the electoral law, a unanimous vote finally extended the mandate of the Kurdish parliamentarians by one year.
It is this vote that the Iraqi Supreme Court has just annulled, deeming it unconstitutional, and rendering, at the same time, null and void all decisions taken by the regional parliament since October 2022. The complaint was filed with the federal courts by elected representatives of a Kurdish movement opposed to the two-party system that rules the autonomous region.
>> READ ALSO: Iraq: the federal army tries to build a wall around the largest civilian camp of the PKK
A powerless regional parliament?
This decision comes at a time when Baghdad and Erbil are already cold over the federal finance law to be voted. According to Erbil, some amendments to the text would undermine the rights of the Kurdish population, in particular to benefit from revenues from the exploitation of oil fields in northern Iraq.
One question remains unanswered: what can the regional parliament do, pending the holding of its elections, announced for November 2023?
>> Read also: Iraq: Kurdistan denounces a budget bill threatening its autonomy
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- Iraq
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