BAGHDAD — Iraqi lawmakers Wednesday failed for a third time to elect a new national
president for lack of a quorum, officials said, prolonging the war-scarred
country’s political crisis.
اضافة اعلان
The continued
failure by parliament to select a president after last year’s elections
reflects a deep schism between Shiite political groupings, with one bloc
boycotting proceedings.
“The assembly
adjourned its session until further notice,” the parliament’s press service
said without giving a new date.
Iraq’s federal
court has given lawmakers until April 6 to choose a new president.
If that deadline
is missed, said political scientist Hamza Haddad, “we could reach a point where
new elections are decided to break the deadlock”.
The judiciary
can only determine “a violation of the constitution” and cannot take any
initiative to break the political deadlock, according to legal expert Ahmed
Al-Soufi.
A parliamentary
source told AFP that only 178 out of 329 lawmakers were present in parliament
Wednesday, far short of the two-thirds quorum required for the vote.
As in the
previous two aborted votes, last Saturday and February 7, Wednesday’s session
was boycotted by a major Shiite coalition bloc in parliament.
Half a year
after October 2021 legislative elections, Iraq still does not have a new
president or prime minister, keeping the country in a state of political
paralysis.
Parliamentarians
must first elect the head of state, by convention a member of the Kurdish
minority, with a two-thirds majority. The president then appoints the head of
government, a post still held by Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, who headed the previous
government.
‘Little appetite’
Among the 40 candidates for the presidency, two are considered the
frontrunners: incumbent Barham Saleh, of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
(PUK), and Rebar Ahmed of the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
On February 13,
Iraq’s supreme court ruled out a presidential bid by KDP-backed veteran
politician Hoshyar Zebari, after a complaint filed against him over years-old,
untried corruption charges.
Iraqi politics
were thrown into turmoil following October’s election, which was marred by
record low turnout, post-vote threats and violence, and a months-long delay
before the final results were confirmed.
The largest
political bloc, led by firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, had backed Zebari
for the presidency before moving its support to Ahmed.
The failed votes
in parliament have underscored the gulf in Iraqi politics between Sadr, the
general election’s big winner, and the powerful Coordination Framework, which
called the boycotts.
The Coordination
Framework includes former premier Nuri Al-Maliki’s party and the pro-Iran Fatah
Alliance — the political arm of the Shiite-led former paramilitary group Hashd
Al-Shaabi.
Alongside
backing Ahmed for the presidency, Sadr intends to entrust the post of prime
minister to his cousin and brother-in-law Jaafar Sadr, Iraq’s ambassador to
Britain.
That prospect is
unpalatable for the Coordination Framework.
Sadr on Wednesday ruled
out any compromise, warning that a consensus government would spell the “death”
of Iraq.
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