Council of Representatives of Iraq

Last updated
Council of Representatives

مجلس النواب (Arabic)
ئه‌نجومه‌نی نوێنه‌ران (Kurdish)
Logo of the Council of Representatives of Iraq.png
Seal of the Council of Representatives of Iraq
Type
Type
Bicameral (de jure)
History
Founded28 December 2005;18 years ago (2005-12-28)
Preceded by Chamber of Deputies
National Assembly of Baathist Iraq
Leadership
Mahmoud al-Mashhadani (non-partisan)
since 31 October 2024
First Deputy Speaker
Second Deputy Speaker
Structure
Seats329
Iraqparliament-post2022resignations.svg
Political groups
Government (186)
  •   Takadum (39)
  •   State of Law (38)
  •   KDP (31)
  •   Fatah (29)
  •   Kurdistan Alliance (17)
  •   Azem Alliance (14)
  •   Victory Alliance (11)
  •   Babylon Movement (4)
  •   Al Furatain Party (3)

Opposition (143)

Length of term
4 years
Elections
Single non-transferable vote (after 2019)
Last election
10 October 2021
Next election
2025
Redistricting Independent High Electoral Commission
Meeting place
Baghdad Convention Center inside.jpg
Baghdad Convention Center
Green Zone
Baghdad
Iraq
Website
iq.parliament.iq
Constitution
Constitution of Iraq (2005), Section II, Chapter I

The Council of Representatives [a] is the de facto unicameral legislature of the Republic of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, it is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the country. As of 2020, it comprises 329 seats and meets in Baghdad inside the Green Zone. [1]

Contents

History

The monarchy

An elected Iraqi parliament first formed following the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in 1925. The 1925 constitution called for a bicameral parliament whose lower house, the Chamber of Deputies of Iraq or Council of Representatives (Majlis an-Nuwwab) would be elected based on universal manhood suffrage. The upper house, the Senate of Iraq (Majlis al-A`yan) was appointed by the king. Sixteen elections took place between 1925 and the coup of 1958. [2]

On January 17, 1953 elections for the Chamber of Deputies (also known as the National Assembly) took place. Following controversy over the implementation of the so-called Baghdad Pact, Prime Minister Nuri Pasha as-Said called for elections the following year, in early 1954. As-Said dissolved the assembly shortly thereafter and began to rule by decree, but opposition forced him to hold a third election within three years. The second 1954 election was very corrupt, with as-Said's political enemies banned from running, and widespread voter coercion. The assembly was suspended yet again, and in 1958 a military coup deposed as-Said and the monarchy, and abolished the parliament.

Under Saddam Hussein

The 1970 constitution created a republic with an elected National Assembly (al-Majlis al-Watani). However, elections for the Assembly did not take place until June 1980, under Iraq's new military president, Saddam Hussein. Several more elections took place between 1989 and 2003. Elections for its members were not considered free and fair by the international community. Only members of Hussein's own Baath Party were ever elected.

The transitional period

In 2003, Saddam Hussein was forcibly removed from power by the United States of America, the United Kingdom and their allies during the Iraq War. In March 2003 a governing council set up by the Coalition Provisional Authority signed an interim constitution which called for the election of a transitional National Assembly after than the end of January 2005. This Assembly would draft a permanent constitution which would then be submitted to approval by the Iraqi people in a general referendum.

Elections for this transitional National Assembly (al-Jam`iyya al-Wataniyya) took place on January 30, 2005. The United Iraqi Alliance Party won the majority of seats with 48% of the popular vote resulting in 140 seats. Eighty-five members of the assembly were women.

Talks between the UIA and other parties to form a coalition government began soon after the election. The assembly had its first meeting on March 16, 2005. After weeks of negotiations between the dominant political parties, on April 4, 2005, Sunni Arab Hajim al-Hassani was chosen as speaker; Shiite Hussain Shahristani and Kurd Aref Taifour were elected as his top deputies. The Assembly elected Jalal Talabani to head the Presidency Council on April 6, and approved the selection of Ibrahim al-Jaafari and his cabinet on April 28.

The Constitution of 2005

Under the permanent constitution approved on October 15, 2005, legislative authority is vested in two bodies, the Council of Representatives and the Federation Council, while the latter is to be established by the former.

The Council of Representatives consists of 325 members elected for four years, with two sessions in each annual term. The Council passes federal laws, oversees the executive, ratifies treaties, and approves nominations of specified officials. It elects the president of the republic, who selects a prime minister from the majority coalition in the Council. (During an initial period, a three-member Presidential Council elected by the Council of Representatives will carry out the duties of the president of the republic.)

Elections were held on December 15, 2005 for the Council of Representatives. The Council first met on March 16, 2006, exactly one year after the first meeting of the transitional assembly.

The Council of Representatives of Iraq has the same name in Arabic (مجلس النواب, Majlis an-Nuwwab) as the lower legislative houses of Bahrain, Morocco, Jordan, and Yemen, and as the unicameral legislatures of Lebanon and Tunisia. However, a number of different English terms are used to refer to these bodies.

The Federation Council (or or Council of Federation/Union, Majlis al-Ittihad), [3] will consist of representatives from Iraq's regions and governorates. Its precise composition and responsibilities are not defined in the constitution and will be determined by the Council of Representatives. As of 2021, no concrete steps have been made towards establishing the proposed upper house.

Iraqi parliament members in 1928. y'aendmny y'aenjwmaeny nwYnaern (paerlaemn)y `yrq 1928.jpg
Iraqi parliament members in 1928.

2007 Iraqi Parliament bombing

On, April 12, 2007, Mohammed Awad, a political party member of the Iraqi National Dialogue Council, was killed at the convention centre canteen of the parliament building, and 22 were wounded, in the 2007 Iraqi Parliament Bombing. [4] [5]

2007 issues

A group of Sunni lawmakers boycotted parliament in a June 2007 protest of the removal of the speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, after a series of controversial actions. They returned in July after the speaker was re-instated with the understanding that he would quietly resign after a few sessions. A group of Shiite members also returned in July after a boycott which gained them an investigation into the bombing of a Shiite mosque, along with reconstruction and improved security. The parliament was under pressure from the United States to pass legislation dealing with members of the Baath party, distribution of oil revenues, regional autonomy, and constitutional reform, by September 2007. [6]

2009 electoral reform

The Iraqi cabinet approved a draft elections law in September 2009. However, it took two months and ten delays for the law to pass in the Council of Representatives. The main areas of dispute concerned the "open list" electoral system and the voters roll in Kirkuk Governorate, which Arab and Turkmen parties alleged had been manipulated by the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq. [7]

UNAMI advised the electoral system was changed to allow people to vote for individuals as well as party lists under the open list form of proportional representation. The last national elections had used a closed list system, but the Iraqi governorate elections of 2009 had used open lists. [8] In the end, all parties except for the Kurdistani Alliance agreed to support open lists which was adopted. [7] The law increased the size of the Council from 275 to 325 members—equal to one seat per 100,000 citizens, as specified in the Constitution of Iraq. [9]

2016 protests

The parliament was stormed by protesters in April 2016; the protestors also attacked buildings within the parliamentary complex. [10]

2018 electoral reform

The Council of Representatives voted on 11 February 2018, to add an extra seat for minorities, in the Wasit Governorate for Feyli Kurds, making the total number of parliamentarians equal to 329 prior to the 2018 parliamentary elections. [11]

2019 electoral reform

As a result of the ongoing 2019 Iraqi protests, the Council of Representatives approved a new law on 24 December 2019 which aims to make it easier for independent politicians to win a seat in the Council of Representatives. The new law will see each of Iraq's governorates split into several electoral districts, with one legislator being elected per 100,000 people, thus replacing its proportional representation system for a district-based system. The new law will also prevent parties from running on unified lists. [12]

2021 elections

Since the parliamentary election in October 2021, there has been a political crisis in Iraq, with members of the Council of Representatives of Iraq being unable to form a stable coalition government, or elect a new President. [13] For 10 months, the national political system was in a political deadlock. [14] On 3 August 2022, Muqtada al-Sadr called for snap elections. [15]

See also

Footnotes

  1. Editorial, Reuters. "Business & Financial News, U.S & International Breaking News | Reuters". U.S. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 2018-03-12.{{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  2. "Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News – Reuters.com". reuters.com. Archived from the original on 11 November 2006. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  3. "FAOLEX". FAOHome. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  4. "Login". The Times . Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  5. "BBC NEWS – Middle East – Iraq MPs condemn parliament blast". bbc.co.uk. 13 April 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  6. "Iraqi Parliament Pulls Together as Break Looms". NPR.org. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  7. 1 2 Obama hails Iraq's approval of 2010 election law, Agence France Presse, 9 November 2009
  8. al-Ansary, Khalid (12 September 2009), Iraq cabinet approves draft elections law, Reuters
  9. Najm, Hayder (13 November 2009). "Election law faces new challenges". Niqash. Archived from the original on 9 March 2010.
  10. "Shia protesters storm Iraq parliament". BBC News Online. 30 April 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  11. "Seat in Parliament reserved for Feyli Kurds in Iraq". Al Shahid. 23 Jan 2018.
  12. Abdul-Zahra, Qassim (24 December 2019). "Iraq's parliament approves new election law amid protests". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  13. "Iraqi PM stresses inciting violence and chaos unacceptable". Iraqi News. 2022-06-14. Archived from the original on 15 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  14. "Iraqi MPs from Muqtada al-Sadr's bloc resign". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  15. "'Dissolve the parliament': Influential Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr calls for fresh elections in Iraq". WION. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  1. (Arabic: مجلس النواب, romanized: Majlis an-Nuwwāb al-ʿIrāqiyy; Kurdish: ئه‌نجومه‌نی نوێنه‌ران, Encûmena Nûnerên Iraqê), usually referred to simply as the Parliament (Arabic: البرلمان)

Related Research Articles

Iraq is a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic. It is a multi-party system whereby the executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers as the head of government, the President of Iraq as the head of state, and legislative power is vested in the Council of Representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq</span> Iraqi political party

The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq is a Shia Islamist political party in Iraq. It was established in Iran in 1982 by Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and changed its name to the current Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq in 2007. Its political support comes from Iraq's Shia Muslim community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muqtada al-Sadr</span> Iraqi Shia scholar, politician and militia leader (born 1974)

Muqtada al-Sadr is an Iraqi Shia Muslim cleric, politician and militia leader. He inherited the leadership of the Sadrist Movement from his father. He founded the now dissolved Mahdi Army militia in 2003 that resisted the American occupation of Iraq. He also founded the Promised Day Brigade militia after the dissolution of the Mahdi Army; both were backed by Iran. In 2014, he founded the Peace Companies militia and is its current head. In 2018, he joined his Sadrist political party to the Saairun alliance, which won the highest number of seats in the 2018 and 2021 Iraqi parliamentary elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Iraqi Alliance</span> Political party in Iraq

The National Iraqi Alliance, also known as the Watani List, is an Iraqi electoral coalition that contested the 2010 Iraqi legislative election. The Alliance is mainly composed of Shi'a Islamist parties. The alliance was created by the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq to contest in the January 2005 and December 2005 under the name United Iraqi Alliance, when it included all Iraq's major Shi'a parties. The United Iraqi Alliance won both those of elections however later fell apart after several major parties left the alliance due to disputes with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Supreme Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">January 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election</span>

Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 30 January 2005 to elect the new National Assembly, alongside governorate elections and a parliamentary election in Kurdistan Region. The 275-member legislature had been created under the Transitional Law during the international occupation. The newly elected body was given a mandate to write a new constitution and exercise legislative functions until the new constitution came into effect. The elections also led to the formation of the Iraqi Transitional Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">December 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election</span>

Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 15 December 2005, following the approval of a new constitution in a referendum on 15 October.

The first government of Iraq led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki took office on May 20, 2006 following approval by the members of the Iraqi National Assembly. This followed the general election in December 2005. The government succeeded the Iraqi Transitional Government which had continued in office in a caretaker capacity until the new government was formed and confirmed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sadrist Movement</span> Political party in Iraq

The Sadrist Movement is an Iraqi Shi'a Islamic national movement and political party, led by Muqtada al-Sadr.

The government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as an Islamic, democratic, parliamentary republic. The government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as well as numerous independent commissions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Iraqi governorate elections</span> 2nd Iraqi governorate elections

Governorate or provincial elections were held in Iraq on 31 January 2009, to replace the local councils in fourteen of the eighteen governorates of Iraq that were elected in the 2005 Iraqi governorate elections. 14,431 candidates, including 3,912 women, contested 440 seats. The candidates came from over 400 parties, 75% of which were newly formed.

This article concerns the formation process of the Al Maliki I Government of Iraq in the aftermath of the Iraq National Assembly being elected on December 15, 2005. Due to disputes over alleged vote-rigging the results of the election were only certified by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq on February 10, 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Iraqi governorate elections</span> 3rd Iraqi governorate elections

Governorate or provincial elections were held in Iraq on 20 April 2013, to replace the local councils in the governorates of Iraq that were elected in the Iraqi governorate elections of 2009. Elections took place in 12 of Iraq's 18 governorates. Elections didn't take place in the 3 governorates forming the Kurdistan Region or Kirkuk, Anbar, or Nineveh, meaning that a total of 378 provincial council seats were up for election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Iraq (2011–present)</span>

The departure of US troops from Iraq in 2011 ended the period of occupation that had begun with the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. The time since U.S. withdrawal has been marked by a renewed Iraqi insurgency and by a spillover of the Syrian civil war into Iraq. By 2013, the insurgency escalated into a renewed war, the central government of Iraq being opposed by ISIL and various factions, primarily radical Sunni forces during the early phase of the conflict. The war ended in 2017 with an Iraqi government and allied victory, however ISIL continues a low-intensity insurgency in remote parts of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Iraqi parliamentary election</span>

Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 12 May 2018. The elections decided the 329 members of the Council of Representatives, the country's unicameral legislature, who in turn will elect the Iraqi president and prime minister. The Iraqi parliament ordered a manual recount of the results on 6 June 2018. On 10 June 2018, a storage site in Baghdad housing roughly half of the ballots from the May parliamentary election caught fire.

Jaafar Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr is an Iraqi politician with the Shiite Islamist Islamic Dawa Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015–2018 Iraqi protests</span> Protests starting in July 2015

As sequel to protests in 2011, 2012 and 2013, Iraqi citizens have also in 2015 up until 2018 often and massively protested against the corruption and incompetence in their government which according to analysts and protesters had led to long-running problems in electricity supplies, clean water availability, Iranian interference in Iraqi politics, high unemployment, and a stagnant economy.

Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 10 October 2021. The elections determined the 329 members of the Council of Representatives who in turn elected the Iraqi president and confirmed the prime minister. 25 million voters are eligible to take part in Iraq's fifth parliamentary election since the 2003 US-led invasion and the first since the 2019 Iraqi October Revolution. The election result led to the clashes in Baghdad and an 11 month long political crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021–2022 Iraqi political crisis</span> Political crisis in Iraq

Between the parliamentary election in October 2021 and October 2022, there was a political crisis in Iraq, with members of the Council of Representatives of Iraq being unable to form a stable coalition government, or elect a new President. Basic government services such as the civil service and military continued functioning, but the national political system was in deadlock including in respect of almost all major spending and taxation issues. On 27 October 2022, the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani was approved by the Council of Representatives.

The next elections to the Iraqi Parliament are yet to be scheduled.

The 2022 Baghdad clashes was a civil conflict that broke out between supporters of Iraqi politician Muqtada al-Sadr and pro-Iranian forces, following Sadr's announcement of his resignation from politics. The move came after the resignation of Grand Ayatollah Kadhim Al-Haeri, the leader of his Iran-based Sadrist movement, which Sadr believed wasn't of his own volition. The unrest was considered the most serious crisis in the country since the defeat of ISIL in the country in 2017, since which Iraq has had relative stability. The clashes left at least 30 people dead and 700 more injured, including 110 members of the security forces.

References