Iraqi parliament postpones session planned for vote on federal 2021 budget

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi parliament has postponed to next week a session that was planned for Saturday to hold a belated vote on the federal 2021 budget bill, senior lawmaker Hisham Suheil told Kurdistan 24. The move comes amid lingering disputes over some stipulations in the proposed law.

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The session is now planned for March 27, next Saturday, unless the legislature determines otherwise.

Shia and Sunni factions in the federal legislature reportedly boycotted the session after apparently reneging on an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) delegation in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on the autonomous region’s share in the national budget.

Deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Qubad Talabani, led negotiations in Baghdad that lasted for months, seeking to reach an agreement on the autonomous region’s share of the budget.

The Parliamentary Finance Committee and Shia parliamentary blocs have objected to several articles, including those related to the Kurdistan Region.

On Friday, sources familiar with the negotiations told Kurdistan 24 that the KRG delegation reached an agreement with the Finance Committee on Article 11 related to the region’s financial allocation. However, no details about the content of the deal have been revealed yet.

Shortly before the postponement was announced, Second Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Bashir Haddad, who is Kurdish, told reporters in Baghdad that the agreement between the KRG and Iraqi political parties “has not been annulled.”