The Federal Court’s decision on the Iraqi Kurdistan Elections Law came in favor of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (European) complaint.

Erbil -

The Federal Court in Iraq settled an internal Kurdish dispute regarding the election law in the Iraqi Kurdistan region on two important points, the first of which was an article related to the quota for the components (Christians, Turkmen, and Armenians), as the court canceled 11 seats allocated to them according to the Kurdistan Parliament election law out of 111 seats.

As for the second point, the court decided to hold the elections in 4 electoral districts instead of one electoral district as was the case in the previous law, and this dispute between the two main parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, caused the delay in holding the regional parliament elections for more than two years.

Last Wednesday, the court in Baghdad issued a decision that the phrase “eleven” contained in Article 1 of the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament Election Law No. 1 of 1992 was unconstitutional, making the text as follows: “The Kurdistan Parliament shall consist of one hundred members.”

Aydin Marouf (center): The court’s decision is bad, political, and illegal (social networking sites)

complaint

The court also recognized the unconstitutionality of Article Nine of this law and the validity of the previous text, which was repealed under Article Four of the Third Amendment No. 47 of 2004, so that the effective text would be as follows: “Iraqi Kurdistan shall be divided into electoral regions, provided that they are not less than 4 regions.”

The court's decision comes in favor of a complaint filed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan after the failure to resolve its dispute with its traditional rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, regarding the election law within the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament.

These disputes obstructed Parliament sessions, and this was followed by a previous decision by the Federal Court that the sessions of the Kurdistan Parliament were unconstitutional due to exceeding its legal age and extending it in an unconstitutional manner, according to the court’s decision.

Representatives of the region's components, which are "Chaldean, Assyrian, Turkmen, and Syriac," objected to the court's decision in a joint statement during a press conference held after the decision was issued.

These components considered the decision a “coup against the Iraqi constitution,” and demanded the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani - as a “defender of human rights and components” - not to accept “this injustice,” according to the text of the statement.

The region's Minister for Component Affairs - Turkmen, Aydin Marouf, said during the conference that "this decision is bad, political and illegal," and stressed that the components have the right to participate in the Kurdistan Regional Parliament elections to guarantee their rights.

Jawas Hassan: The Federal Court’s decision is not within its authority (Al Jazeera)

Exceeding powers

In this context, the political bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party held a meeting the day before yesterday, Thursday, headed by Barzani, and issued a statement in which it considered that “the decisions of the Federal Court contradict the spirit of the constitution, the constitutional rights of the Kurdistan region, the principles of federalism, and the principle of separation of powers stipulated in the Iraqi constitution.”

As for the complainant, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, its position was the opposite, and its official spokesman, Saadi Bira, stated that “the court’s decision regarding the election law is in the interest of all parties, and enables the components to participate in the elections and ally with other parties.”

In a statement to Al Jazeera Net, university professor and legal expert Jawas Hassan said that only the Federal Court has the right to decide whether the article is constitutional or not, but in this decision it placed itself in the place of the legislator and implementer and began drafting the legislative text, "and this is not considered one of its powers."

He added, "The special articles regarding the quota in the election law are not only implemented within the region, but in Iraq itself. For example, there is a quota in the law of the Iraqi National Council, as well as the Iraqi provincial council elections law." He wondered, "Why does the Federal Court consider the quota law in the region to be in violation of the constitution and in In return, do you remain silent about the quota in the provincial councils?

Some analysts link these decisions, which come out of the Federal Court against various parties inside Iraq, to ​​foreign policies and interference by regional countries in Iraqi affairs.

Jamal Abdullah: Iran was able to control all institutions in Iraq, including the Federal Court (Al Jazeera)

External interference

Writer and journalist Jamal Abdullah told Al Jazeera Net that Iran has relatively succeeded so far in fragmenting the Sunni and Kurdish Arab political forces and even the Turkmen and Christian political forces by including some of them in its policy agendas.

He added that Tehran was able - to a large extent - to control and monopolize all institutions in Iraq, including the Federal Court, and to harness it to legitimize Iranian policies in Iraq, according to him.

He continued, "It is enough for us to take a mathematical look at all the court's decisions so far and then ask: Why have we not seen the issuance of any decision up to this moment against the Shiite political forces loyal to Iran?"

He added, "But there are several decisions of this court against the Sunni and Kurdish Arab political forces who did not submit to Iran's policies and agendas in Iraq. Isn't this a legitimate justification for us to doubt the impartiality of the Federal Court?"

The court's decision came after numerous sessions and the decision was postponed several times. It is expected that the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission, which was assigned by the court to supervise the process of holding elections for the Kurdistan Parliament, will announce the date of the elections, which was postponed several times due to the complaint submitted by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

The Commission had previously stated that it needed at least 4 months to prepare to hold these elections after the court decided on its decision regarding the Kurdish dispute.

Source: Al Jazeera