Iraqi President urges Abadi to remove constitutional violations in budget law

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi President Fuad Masum has asked Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to review the constitutional violations in Iraq’s 2018’s national budget law.

In a letter directed to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Masum noted some “constitutional and legislative violations” in this year’s national budget document, urging Abadi to amend the budget law and remove the violations.

“After reviewing the articles in the budget law, on the basis of the Iraqi Constitution and legislature, we have found the existence of some violations,” the letter read.

Masum criticized Abadi for using “unconstitutional terms” in the budget law when referring to the Kurdistan Region.

The budget law, approved by the Iraqi Council of Ministers, refers to the Kurdistan Region as “the provinces of the Region,” labeling the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) as the “government of the provinces” in an attempt to deal with Kurdistan’s provinces separately.

Masum mentioned Article 141 of the Iraqi Constitution which emphasizes the use of one term to refer to the Region as the KRG has its own executive, judiciary, and legislative authorities.

The Iraqi President’s letter also pointed to Article 117 of the Constitution which states that “this Constitution shall recognize the region of Kurdistan, along with its existing authorities, as a federal region.”

“The points mentioned in Article 4 and 10 [of the budget law] attempt to isolate the Kurdistan Region’s governorates from its three authorities—financially and administratively—which is a clear violation of the Constitution,” Masum explained.

The letter concluded by asking Abadi to “remove the constitutional violations” in the budget law.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany