The Iraqi judiciary issued clarification on the mechanism for ‘dissolving the House of Representatives’

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq issued a clarification regarding the mechanism for dissolving the House of Representatives, noting that no judicial body has the power to dissolve it.

The Judicial Council said in a statement that "Iraq is a constitutional and political system country, and the mechanisms for forming authorities in it are based on the principles and provisions set by the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq for the year 2005, which stems from the will of the Iraqi people, who chose their political system according to the form stipulated in the constitution."

The statement added that "the treatment of political problems is carried out in accordance with the constitutional provisions only, and no party, whether judicial or otherwise, may impose a solution to the political blockage except in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. Therefore, the mechanisms for dissolving the House of Representatives are restricted by the text of Article 64 of the Constitution."

According to Article 64, the House of Representatives may only be dissolved by an absolute majority of its members. There are also only two ways of introducing this motion. The first is at the request of a third of its members, and the second at the request of the Prime Minister and with the approval of the President of the Republic.

The statement of the Supreme Judicial Council stated, "From this text, it is clear that no other party, including the judiciary, in both its ordinary and constitutional aspects, has the power to dissolve the parliament, because there is no constitutional or legal basis for this procedure."

On Tuesday, the Wisdom Movement, led by Ammar al-Hakim, warned of several scenarios, including political chaos and rushed re-election, if no meeting takes place between the Shiite coordination framework and the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, during the next 48 hours.

On Tuesday, the leader of the Shia State of Law coalition, Nuri al-Maliki, refused to dissolve the parliament and open for re-election. He indicated in a tweet that the Shiite coordination framework would stand firmly against this option, and also stressed that raising this matter aims to "scare" the deputies and independents into participating in the next parliamentary session. The upcoming parliamentary session on the 26th of March aims to find a majority to elect a new President of Iraq.