Iraq: Federal Court temporarily suspends work of elected parliament presidency
The Federal Supreme Court of Iraq orders the temporary suspension of Parliament's Speakership based on a lawsuit submitted by two MPs.
On Thursday, the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq issued a state order to temporarily suspend the work of the Parliament speaker and his two deputies, following a lawsuit filed by two Iraqi lawmakers.
According to documents published by the Iraqi News Agency, the decision came at the request of MPs Basem Khashan and Mahmoud Daoud Salman.
The official document published stated: “Based on the fact that the constitutional judiciary has general jurisdiction in constitutional matters, the Federal Court decided to temporarily suspend the work of the speaker of the House of Representatives until the case is resolved," adding that, "the decision is binding to all authorities based on the Constitution and the laws of the Federal Court.”
On the reasons for the suit, the document stated that the two representatives had submitted it based on constitutional violations that marred the last parliamentary session, in addition to violations of the internal system of the House of Representatives. Accordingly, the plaintiffs requested a proclamation order to stop all the measures the House of Representatives, its speaker, and his two deputies took until the cases are resolved.
Mohamed Al-Halbousi had won the speakership a few days ago with 200 votes, against the 14 won by his rival, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani. Later, Al-Halbousi announced the opening of nominations for the post of President of the Republic, declaring that the period will be 15 days, before raising the hearing.
In the same session, Hakim Al-Zamili and Shakhwan Abdallah were elected deputy speakers of parliament.
This session was the first session of the Iraqi parliament since the Iraqi Federal Court ratified the results of the elections, which took place on the 10th of October, in which the Sadrist movement won a majority of 73 seats.