The selection of people for parliamentary committees sparked political and popular controversy in Iraq, where many believe that the process witnessed a choice according to the principle of quotas between parties in Parliament without taking into account specialization or experience.

The Serail saw that the parliamentary committees chose their members based on the quota and component distribution of the political blocs (Al-Jazeera Net)

distributing my components

The parliament’s vote on members of most of the parliamentary committees provoked the ire of politicians and observers from various directions. In addition to the opinions on the communication sites, the selection of the committees described a return to quotas, away from the slogans of reform raised by many political blocs before and after the elections.

However, independents said that the selection of many members of these committees was based on the quota and constituent distribution of the political blocs, away from focusing on the specialization and expertise required for the nature of the committee’s work, especially in the important sovereign committees, as explained by Rasoul al-Saray, spokesman for the extension movement (emanating from the protests). popular).

Al-Saray added that most of the parliamentary committees were not divided according to exact specializations.

He also pointed out that the component and sectarian distribution is still present in the distribution of committee members, and it has imposed itself even on civil and new entities.

He said that the constituent formation is not included in the constitution, and despite that, it has overshadowed the selection process for the committees, as the emerging and civil entities were also forced to participate in these committees, according to their sectarian or national composition.

Committees under the microscope

The journalist specializing in Parliament affairs, Fadl Al-Abadi, sees the interest of the political blocs in the parliamentary committees, differing from one to another according to their importance and their connection to oversight of the affairs and sovereign ministries, most notably (integrity, finance, security and defense, legal, oil and gas, and follow-up on the implementation of the government program).

He indicated - in his speech to Al Jazeera Net - that the parliamentary blocs are seeking in particular to include certain names in those committees, for special interests based on implementing their vision and putting pressure on the authorities and ministries according to their will, pointing out that this issue is "accumulated, and in each electoral cycle it was causing That the work of those committees is lame, and far from its content.”

Al-Abadi demanded the issuance of a law or the amendment of the internal system to regulate the process of forming committees, considering that it is not acceptable to have in sensitive committees - such as legal, education and other sovereign committees - people who have no specialization in the field of the specific committee.

Al-Baydar: The law contributed to emptying Parliament of its qualitative content (Al-Jazeera Net)

The law is the reason

Blaming the political blocs alone does not see enough observers of the distribution mechanisms in those committees, as many of them attribute the adoption of parliamentary committee members away from their specialization to the nature of the recent election law, the presence of specialists within the parliament, in addition to political quotas.

Political analyst Ali Al-Baydar pointed out that the law contributed to emptying Parliament of its qualitative content, in addition to the political imprint in the distribution process.

Al-Baydar indicated - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - that the election law for the fifth session of the House of Representatives contributed to the delivery of personalities with a societal and regional dimension at the expense of academic, professional and artistic personalities;

Thus, these personalities will be present in the committees, and their presence will be at the expense of the performance and impact of those committees.

Al-Baydar shares his opinion with Legal Adviser Ond Jalal, who also blamed the election law, which prompted the parties to focus on social and regional personalities to win the seat and not resort to competencies, considering that allowing the candidacy of persons who are not qualified and who do not hold diplomas weakened Parliament.

Galal pointed out that most members of parliament do not even hold a bachelor's degree.

This caused the lack of competencies, and thus the existence of committees without specialization or competence.

Muhammad confirmed that the permanent committees were formed on the basis of competence and competence (Al-Jazeera Net)

Parliamentary denial

On the other hand, parliamentarians deny selecting committee members outside of specialization, stressing that more than 70% of those who voted for them were chosen based on competence and competence, according to what a member of the House of Representatives Omid Muhammad says.

And Muhammad added - to Al Jazeera Net - that the permanent committees were formed on the basis of competence and competence, not only this, but he believes that these committees will have a major role in resolving differences and enacting laws that solve the problems of the citizen.

Muhammad added, "We tried - as much as possible - to have specialists in the committees, and we are satisfied with this distribution, and I believe that we were able to distribute the committees on the basis of competence and specialization, and more than 70% came in accordance with these requirements."

Law and Logic

The statistics of the House of Representatives indicate that there are 26 deputies who hold a high school diploma only, and 23 others hold a diploma. When searching for the names of the committees that were voted on, most of the owners of these two levels were distributed in important committees such as finance, integrity, defense, foreign affairs, strategic planning and electricity.

According to observers, the law does not require committee members to hold a certificate of competence, but the logic and the nature of the supervisory work of some sovereign committees require specialization and experience to deal with the reality of the crises in the country.