Iraqi Supreme Judiciary urges constitutional review after crisis

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The head of the Supreme Judicial Council in Iraq, Faiq Zaidan, called on Saturday for a review of the drafting of the articles of the constitution that caused the political impasse in the country against the background of the Sadrist movement’s demand to dissolve parliament and the coordination framework's insistence to form a government first.

Zaidan stressed, "the need to reconsider the drafting of the articles of the constitution that caused the state of political impasse," stressing that "the jurisdictions of the Federal Court is constitutionally defined under Article 93," and dissolving the House of Representatives is not one of them."

According to Zaidan, "the judiciary is aware of the constitutional violations that occurred after the legislative elections."

This comes after the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court rejected on September 7 the lawsuit submitted by a number of Sadrist movement leaders demanding the dissolution of the Council of Representatives, saying that dissolving the Council is not within its competence.

The court explained that "the penalty imposed on the House of Representatives for failing to fulfill its constitutional duties is to dissolve the parliament when there are justifications for it."

Earlier, Al-Sadr demanded that the judiciary dissolve the Iraqi parliament and the President set a date for early parliamentary elections in light of the political turmoil in the country.  

Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi stressed that the key to a political solution in Iraq is for everyone to join the national dialogue roundtable. The PM also noted that the National Dialogue Initiative is "the right way to resolve the crisis, and everyone should bear responsibility to reach solutions," calling on everyone to "make concessions."

The main political leaders of Iraq agreed earlier last month to work on a political road map that culminates with a solution to the impasse that has had a hold on the country for nearly a year, but key political leader Muqtada Al-Sadr was not present at the talks called for by Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.