Kurdish leader calls on Baghdad to form impartial higher council on constitutional matters

The leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Masoud Barzani, on Saturday called on Baghdad to form a higher council that ensures pluralistic decision making and the implementation of the Constitution in Iraq.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Masoud Barzani, on Saturday called on Baghdad to form a higher council that ensures pluralistic decision making and the implementation of the Constitution in Iraq.

“Until the establishment of the ‘Federation Council,’ a higher council for policies and strategic planning must be formed so that all the important decisions in Iraq are made multilaterally by all its constituencies,” said Barzani during a meeting with media cadres in Erbil.

Referenced in Article 48 of the Iraqi constitution, the federal legislative power was set to consist of the “Council of Representatives and the Federation Council.” However, the latter is yet to be created due to the successive conflicts the country has found itself in ever since the fall of the Baathist regime in 2003.

“A legislative council shall be established named the ‘Federation Council,’ to include representatives from the regions and the governorates that are not organized in a region. A law, enacted by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Council of Representatives, shall regulate the formation of the Federation Council, its membership conditions, its competencies, and all that is connected with it,” reads Article 65 of the constitution.

Barzani added that the council would aim to prevent the “violation of the constitution” and “autocratic rule” by the government, and the prohibition of all persons and entities from “repeating the crimes committed against our people.”

It is not clear whether Kurdish lawmakers will raise the issue in the new parliament. 

Iraqi citizens voted for the adoption of the constitution in 2005 in a country-wide poll. However, Baghdad is yet to implement key articles, among them one that settles a territorial dispute between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the central government.

Article 140 is one that calls for a referendum to be held in the disputed territories for its people to decide whether they wish to be governed by Baghdad or Erbil.

Editing by Nadia Riva