Saturday, March 19th 2011 4:44 PM
Baghdad, March 19 (AKnews) – The Baghdad Alliance (BA), a group of non-governmental and civil society organizations in the Iraqi capital, said on Saturday that the Iraqi parliament has clearly violated the constitution on several counts since last year’s March 7 general elections.
Alliance member and former MP Amira al-Baldawi told AKnews the BA has closely observed the work of parliament during the current legislative term and discerned numerous irregularities and relatively few draft bills completed.
Baldawi, who currently heads the Iraqi Cultural Foundation for Orphans, began by pointing to articles 54 and 55 of the constitution which she said were violated by parliament when it held its first session on June 14 without electing a parliament speaker and then proceeded to leave the session open without any legal or constitutional justification.
Article 54 clearly states that the first convening of parliament must be within 15 days of the date of approval of the general election results, a period which cannot be extended, while article 55 states that during its first session, parliament must elect the speaker and his two deputies.
“Parliament also violated Article 7 of the constitution when the nominations of (some) al-Iraqiya List members were withdrawn according to the accountability and justice law,” Baldawi said, “then announced during the second session that a political agreement had been signed (between the blocs) in which guarantees were given not to exclude those members, instead giving them sovereign positions… this is contrary to the law”.
The Accountability and Justice Law prevents members or former members of the Baath Party, outlawed in Iraq, from participating in the country’s political process.
Baldawi went on to say that article 51 of the constitution has been violated because there has still not been a vote on the internal workings of parliament and after 38 sessions, the weekly legislative days have not been identified.
“The continuing absences of a large number of MPs and the increasing number of MPs who leave sessions (before their completion) have led to the approval of important projects being stalled”.
“One year after the elections, parliament has only passed two laws,” Baldawi pointed out, “the first was the 2011 federal budget law and the second, which was completely rejected by the Iraqi public and is one of the reasons behind the recent demonstrations, is the law of the Vice-President of the Republic”.
Speaking of the bills that are currently in the legislative process, that have been submitted to parliament but are as yet un-ratified, Baldawi was clearly unimpressed.
“…there are six laws that were read only for the first time,” she said “and these laws do not meet the needs of citizens or their priorities”.
“The Baghdad Alliance testifies to the poor achievement of the Iraqi parliament one year after the general elections,” Baldawi concluded, “and will issue a monthly report on the achievements of the house over the next six months.”
The Baghdad Alliance includes 27 organizations and bodies in Baghdad which are run by field-professionals, academics and former members of parliament. The alliance has assumed the mission of monitoring the performance of parliament and the presidencies of the government and the Republic in order to improve the provision of state of services in all areas.
Reported by Laith Hadi
Rn/Ka/AKnews
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/226211/
Baghdad, March 19 (AKnews) – The Baghdad Alliance (BA), a group of non-governmental and civil society organizations in the Iraqi capital, said on Saturday that the Iraqi parliament has clearly violated the constitution on several counts since last year’s March 7 general elections.
Alliance member and former MP Amira al-Baldawi told AKnews the BA has closely observed the work of parliament during the current legislative term and discerned numerous irregularities and relatively few draft bills completed.
Baldawi, who currently heads the Iraqi Cultural Foundation for Orphans, began by pointing to articles 54 and 55 of the constitution which she said were violated by parliament when it held its first session on June 14 without electing a parliament speaker and then proceeded to leave the session open without any legal or constitutional justification.
Article 54 clearly states that the first convening of parliament must be within 15 days of the date of approval of the general election results, a period which cannot be extended, while article 55 states that during its first session, parliament must elect the speaker and his two deputies.
“Parliament also violated Article 7 of the constitution when the nominations of (some) al-Iraqiya List members were withdrawn according to the accountability and justice law,” Baldawi said, “then announced during the second session that a political agreement had been signed (between the blocs) in which guarantees were given not to exclude those members, instead giving them sovereign positions… this is contrary to the law”.
The Accountability and Justice Law prevents members or former members of the Baath Party, outlawed in Iraq, from participating in the country’s political process.
Baldawi went on to say that article 51 of the constitution has been violated because there has still not been a vote on the internal workings of parliament and after 38 sessions, the weekly legislative days have not been identified.
“The continuing absences of a large number of MPs and the increasing number of MPs who leave sessions (before their completion) have led to the approval of important projects being stalled”.
“One year after the elections, parliament has only passed two laws,” Baldawi pointed out, “the first was the 2011 federal budget law and the second, which was completely rejected by the Iraqi public and is one of the reasons behind the recent demonstrations, is the law of the Vice-President of the Republic”.
Speaking of the bills that are currently in the legislative process, that have been submitted to parliament but are as yet un-ratified, Baldawi was clearly unimpressed.
“…there are six laws that were read only for the first time,” she said “and these laws do not meet the needs of citizens or their priorities”.
“The Baghdad Alliance testifies to the poor achievement of the Iraqi parliament one year after the general elections,” Baldawi concluded, “and will issue a monthly report on the achievements of the house over the next six months.”
The Baghdad Alliance includes 27 organizations and bodies in Baghdad which are run by field-professionals, academics and former members of parliament. The alliance has assumed the mission of monitoring the performance of parliament and the presidencies of the government and the Republic in order to improve the provision of state of services in all areas.
Reported by Laith Hadi
Rn/Ka/AKnews
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/226211/
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