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KDP, Gorran submit bill to parliament to reactivate Iraqi Kurdistan’s presidency law

KDP Gorran submit bill to parliament to reactivate Iraqi Kurdistans presidency law
KDP, Gorran submit bill to parliament to reactivate Iraqi Kurdistan’s presidency law

2019-03-28 00:00:00 - Source: Iraq News

Iraqi Kurdistan parliament, Erbil, September 15, 2017. Photo: Reuters

HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Change (Gorran) Movement parties submitted a bill on Thursday with 68 signatures to reactivate Iraqi Kurdistan presidency law that calls for parliament to elect the president, not via a public vote.

Kurdistan parliament speaker Vala Farid has asked the lawmakers to convene on March 30 in order to have a first reading for a bill proposed by the KDP, Gorran and the reserved minority representatives that would amend the Kurdistan presidency law.

“Within the framework of agreements struck between the KDP and Gorran and other sides to ramp up steps to form the government and reactivating the presidency … a bill to amend the presidency law and the mechanism of electing the president — until the Kurdistan constitution [officially] is drafted — was submitted with 68 signatures,” Umed Khoshnaw, the head of the KDP bloc, said in a press conference.

The bill has eight articles, including measures to restore to the presidency all the powers that were distributed over the parliament, government, and judiciary when former president Masoud Barzani’s resigned November 2017, Khoshnaw revealed.

The president will retain all powers and functions “until the ratification of the constitution of Kurdistan-Iraq, in which the method for election of the Region’s president and its authorities are determined,” read the bill, Rudaw reported.

The parliament will open nominations for the president within 30 days of the election of the legislature’s presidency board. Candidates will have three days to nominate themselves for the position.

Two days after the nomination window is closed, the names of candidates who meet the necessary criteria will be announced. Individuals who were excluded for failing to meet the criteria can appeal the decision within two days and the appellate court will have another two days to settle the issue. The court’s ruling will be conclusive.

Three days after any possible court rulings – twelve days after opening nominations – parliament will vote in an open ballot and the president will be elected with an absolute majority, the bill proposed. If no candidate wins in the first round, then the two people who secured the most votes will take part in a run-off second round.

Previously, the president was in office for a four-year term. The bill submitted on Thursday proposes that the president’s term ends with that of the parliament.

Head of the New Generation Movement caucus in the Kurdistan Parliament Kawa Abdul Qadir said on Thursday (March 28) that the speaker’s office has only sent one of several bills concerning the Region’s presidency to the Legislative Committee.

While several different proposals were submitted, only the joint bill supported by the KDP, Gorran, and the reserved minority representatives was introduced into committee.

Abdul Qadir stressed during a press conference that all the bills about the presidency issue should be given to the Legislative Committee so that they can be debated.

The KDP and Gorran signed an agreement on February 18, 2019 over the formation of the next government in Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

Gorran bloc head Ali Hama Salih said at the conference “what was really important for us was that we wanted the president to be elected by MPs, not through a popular vote. And that it is fixed in the bill.”

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the New Generation, the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) and the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) did not sign the bill. All were present. The PUK bloc walked out.

The bill came on the heels of another failed round of talks between the KDP and PUK to strike a deal on government formation.

The KDP won the most seats (45) in the election, but not an outright majority so it needs a coalition in order to govern. It has struck a deal with Gorran that finished third in the election with 12 seats. Together they have an absolute majority in the 111-seat legislative body.

But PUK-KDP cooperation is crucial as the Kurdistan Region is politically divided the two, particularly over control of security forces.

The KDP and PUK signed a four-year political agreement in early March, but it lacked specifics on power-sharing.

Rewaz Fayaq, a PUK MP, told Rudaw the presidency matter has a “national dimension” and it should have been settled between all parties.

“We had a failed experience in the past when the parties tried to individually raise bills and petitions to amend the presidency,” Fayaq said, recounting “in the past the KDP thought that the presidency matter had a political, constitutional and national dimension. It has to be settled between all the parties, not each individual party trying to amend it alone. We are now of the view, which the KDP had been calling for in the past, is now what we ask for.”

The matter of presidency has been the point of contention between the Kurdish sides. Previously, Gorran and PUK maintained the position that the presidency law should be amended and the president be elected by parliament. The KDP, however, was opposed to the idea.

KDP leader Massoud Barzani has led Kurdistan region as president from 2005 for two executive terms and his last term was extended in 2013 by ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) for two more years on the condition that he can no longer run as president.

Barzani’s term as president of Kurdistan expired on August 20, 2015 but refused to step down and remains unofficially in office or more than two years despite protests and demonstration against Barzani across Kurdistan region.

In October 2017, Barzani resigned from his post after the controversial and il-fated independence referendum.

In December 2018, the leadership of the KDP has nominated current Iraqi Kurdistan Region premier Nechirvan Barzani to succeed his uncle Massoud Barzani as president of Iraqi Kurdistan, and Masoud Barzani’s son Masrour as premier of the Kurdistan regional government KRG.

Read more about The Monarchy of Iraqi Kurdistan

Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | rudaw.net | nrttv.com

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