Nothing is fixed in politics. With this phrase, we can describe what is happening in Iraq, specifically between the poles of the tripartite alliance that includes the Sadrist bloc, the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which this time threatens to disintegrate due to internal differences.

Disagreements surfaced during the past two days, represented by the administrative dispute between Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi and his first deputy, Hakim al-Zamili of the Sadrist movement over the administrative powers of the president and his two deputies, and the nomination of al-Zamili as parliament speaker, and al-Halbousi's refusal to do so.

Threat to the Triple Alliance

The tripartite alliance called the “Alliance to Save a Homeland” was formed from the winners in the recent legislative elections and includes Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds, while this coalition has sought, over the past two months, to form a national majority government, amid great opposition and rejection from each of the opposition coordination framework, which includes most of the forces Shiites, with the exception of the Sadrist movement and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan led by Baqer Talabani, who see the need to form a government of national unity in a consensual format.

The dispute between the poles of the Triple Alliance indicates the possibility of its disintegration, as the representative of the Sunni Sovereignty Alliance, Mishaan al-Jubouri, confirmed in a tweet on Twitter, "that al-Zamili's conflict with al-Halbousi and his insistence that he is part of a presidency and not a vice president threatens the "Save the Nation" alliance to crack if al-Sadr does not intervene. .

Al-Zamili’s conflict with President Al-Halbousi and his insistence that he is part of a presidency and not a vice president threatens the “Save the Nation” coalition to crack if Mr. Al-Sadr does not intervene,


knowing that the description of the presidency was never mentioned in the constitution, and the Federal Court confirmed that there is no such thing as the Presidency of the House of Representatives , but the president and his two deputies!

pic.twitter.com/fRVxaqjDGL

— Mishaan Al-Jubouri (@mashanaljabouri) April 4, 2022

Al-Zamili responded by requesting to withdraw the circular sent by Al-Halbousi, threatening to resort to the judiciary.

After Mishaan al-Jubouri's tweet about the administrative dispute between the first deputy speaker of the parliament and his first deputy, and after the parliament speaker's circular that there is no body to preside over the parliament, the first deputy hakim al-Zamili replied #Iraq pic.twitter.com/2zHugUpYaA

— Muhammad Al-Fahad (@mohamedalfahad0) April 4, 2022

struggle of wills

The head of the Center for Political Thinking, Ihsan Al-Shammari, believes that the differences between Al-Zamili and Al-Halbousi are a conflict of wills, which is a natural matter, and does not stop at the limits of powers, but goes beyond that, at a time when parties and officials are seeking to bite off many of the powers outside their path.

Al-Shammari considered that the differences between Al-Zamili and Al-Halbousi are a conflict of wills (Al-Jazeera)

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Shammari continues that the differences are normal, but they showed real fear and concern from Al-Halbousi about the possibility of undermining his powers in a way that appears weak and unable to take responsibility, which led him to act early in order to prevent that.

On the extent of the impact of this on the Triple Alliance, or what is known as the Alliance to Save a Homeland, Al-Shammari added that these differences will certainly affect the Triple Alliance, especially since the differences and memos leaked early to the media, pointing out that Muqtada al-Sadr’s last position in the 40-day period granted to the framework The coordination to form the government has led to problems between the poles of the alliance, whose parties are all looking for their interests.

For his part, Muhannad Al-Janabi, Professor of Political Science at Cihan University in Erbil, believes that the emergence of this dispute between Al-Halbousi and Al-Zamili reflects dimensions other than the administrative dimensions, and is represented in the case of inconsistency in the work of the Presidency of the House of Representatives, which may generate a conflict in the decisions of the House of Representatives related to the management of formations The Council and management of its sessions and the work mechanisms of parliamentary committees and others.

Al-Janabi continued, in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, that the seriousness of the dispute lies in the possibility of the dispute moving from the administrative dimension to the political by exploiting it by other political parties to dismantle the alliance between sovereignty and the Sadrist bloc, especially if the dispute develops and is reflected in the powers of the President of the Council, whether by asking the Federal Supreme Court or The State Council, according to al-Janabi.

Al-Tamimi: The powers in the internal system of Parliament regarding the two vice presidents are canceled after the decision of the Federal Court (Al-Jazeera)

Legal position

The dispute between Parliament Speaker Muhammad al-Halbousi and his first deputy, Hakim al-Zamili, took on a greater dimension, after each of them issued an official letter yesterday, Monday, directed to members of the House of Representatives, and the two books were leaked to the media.

In this regard, the legal expert Ali Al-Tamimi confirmed in his speech to Al Jazeera Net that the decisions of the Federal Court are final and binding on all authorities in accordance with Article 94 of the Constitution and are not subject to discrimination, appeal and appeal, and that Federal Court Decision No. 87 of 2010 ended the designation of the Presidency of Parliament and obligated to use the Presidency of Parliament as it is. The state of the Presidency of the Republic and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in accordance with the principle of separation of powers.

Al-Tamimi added, in an exclusive statement to Al-Jazeera Net, that the decision of the Federal Court confirmed that the powers of the Speaker of Parliament are stipulated in the Constitution and that no one else has the authority, pointing out that the powers stipulated in the Parliament's internal system regarding the two Vice Presidents are canceled after the Federal Court's decision, and that the decision is obligatory. That all official correspondences and books be signed by the Speaker of Parliament exclusively.

Al-Janabi: Correspondence between Al-Halbousi and Al-Zamili indicate that the content of the dispute is related to administrative matters and the conflict of powers (Al-Jazeera)

Muhannad Al-Janabi, professor of political science at Cihan University in Erbil, goes in this direction, adding that the series of official correspondence between Al-Halbousi and his first deputy indicates that the content of the dispute is related to administrative matters and the conflict of constitutional, legal and regulatory powers, which turns out after reviewing that the letter of the Speaker was based on what was mentioned 13 of 2018, and the answer of the Federal Supreme Court regarding a previous interpretation, while the letter of the First Deputy was based on the internal system of the House of Representatives.

Al-Janabi added that according to the organizational hierarchy, the constitution and the law are superior to the internal system, which means that the legal principle requires that the internal system of the House of Representatives be consistent with the constitution and the law and not the other way around.

Al-Tamimi confirmed that the differences between the Speaker and his two deputies are not new and that they occurred in previous parliamentary sessions (Al-Jazeera)

What is the possibility of resolving disputes?

In the midst of these differences, which seem to be a test of the possibility of the tripartite alliance cohesion, political researcher Mushais Al-Tamimi stressed that the differences between the Speaker and his two deputies are not new and that they occurred in all previous parliamentary sessions.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Tamimi, who is close to the Sadrist movement, added that the differences between Al-Halbousi and Al-Zamili were resolved on Monday night through direct intervention by the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada Al-Sadr, without reference to what the solution was or how it was done.

On the other hand, Kurdish journalist Saman Noah believes that the tripartite alliance, which can be described as (the alliance of the strong), does not gather anything but spoils, he said, explaining that it lacks communication, the declared national vision, and a real reform program, and therefore disputes began to erupt between its parties even before the start. The actual work of the coalition in the government.

Noah: Emphasizing the strength of the tripartite alliance may not deviate from media statements (Al-Jazeera)

In his testimony to Al Jazeera Net, Noah continued that the emphasis on the strength of the coalition may not deviate from media statements, explaining that the representative of the Sovereignty Alliance Mishaan al-Jubouri had spoken only two days ago about the concrete alliance for the majority of Islah, while he finally warned that the "Save a Homeland" alliance is under threat. collapse.

He added that the differences do not stop there, as the Kurdistan Democratic Party is very upset with its coalition partners as a result of many thorny issues around the oil and gas law and the excluded presidential candidate Hoshyar Zebari, in addition to the silence of the allies over the burning of the Democratic Party headquarters in Baghdad without any action being taken. Muqtada al-Sadr's recent decision to observe seclusion, even without consulting his two allies, increases uncertainty about the future of the alliance as a whole.

For his part, the independent political researcher Abdullah Al-Qasim believes that the differences between Al-Halbousi and Al-Zamili are in line with the aspirations of the Sadrist movement, which has been trying since the October 2019 demonstrations to gain more Shiite audience.

Al-Qasim added, in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, that the current's ambitions are focused on controlling the federal government and excluding all competitors from the Shiite parties and then heading to control the provincial councils, in an attempt to restore the dominance of the one party again, which makes the Sadrist movement's partners very wary of continuing the alliance with Rejection of the coordination framework singling out the Sadrist movement to rule.