Early Wednesday Morning Iraq News 4-13-22
Early Wednesday Morning Iraq News 4-13-22
Al-Khikani: The Vote On The Budget Will Allow The Government To Dispose Of Huge Sums
ECONOMIC 04/13/2022 | 8:56 AM The Information/Baghdad... Political analyst Karim Al-Khikani said that voting on the budget will allow the government to dispose of huge amounts of money without returning to the House of Representatives, pointing out that the Aqaba pipeline project may be one of those projects awaiting budget legislation.
Al-Khikani told Al-Maalouma, "The wise people should rectify the situation and rush to understand in order to elect the President of the Republic and proceed with the formation of the new government away from procrastination."
He added, "The call to legislate the budget will allow the caretaker government to control large sums of money that may be behind suspicions of corruption, in addition to that there are attempts to extend the obstacle tube despite the great rejection of this project, and it is likely that the pursuit of budget legislation is an attempt to finance the project."
And he indicated that “Parliament can authorize the government to disburse some amounts to secure the needs of the people and some of the ruling projects, while monitoring the exchange mechanism and knowing the real numbers of the amounts spent, without budget legislation that allows the government to dispose of large revenues.” finished 25 https://almaalomah.me/2022/04/13/592553/
Al-Zamili Chairs The First Meeting Of The Legal Committee
Political | 12:39 - 13/04/2022 Baghdad - Mawazine News Today, Wednesday, the Legal Committee held its first meeting headed by Hakim Al-Zamili, the first deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Parliament’s media department stated, in a statement received by Mawazine News, that it is “the first meeting of the Legal Committee, to announce the start of its competent parliamentary duties in the current session and discuss Mechanisms for selecting a president, first and second deputy.”
He pointed out that “during the meeting, it was agreed to choose its presidency for each of:
- Muhammad Anouz, head of the age, first deputy, Rebwar Hadi, and second deputy, Abdul Karim Abtan, ended 29/92. https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=190075
The Deputy Speaker Of Parliament Discusses With Al-Hakim The Developments Of The Political Situation To Get Out Of The Crisis
Political | 10:16 - 12/04/2022 Baghdad - Mawazine News Deputy Speaker of Parliament Shakhwan Abdullah, and head of the National Wisdom Movement, Ammar al-Hakim, affirmed the continuation of efforts and the opportunity still exists to initiate understandings and dialogues between the national forces to resolve differences.
A statement by the Media Office of the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, received by Mawazine News, stated that "the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Shakhwan Abdullah Ahmed, received in his office in Baghdad this evening, Tuesday evening, Mr. Ammar Al-Hakim, head of the National Wisdom Movement, and his accompanying delegation included a number of figures for the leaders of the Wisdom Movement. Discuss the overall developments of the situation and current events on the Iraqi arena, and the work of the Parliament at this stage.
He continued: "In addition to discussing the efforts aimed by the parties to the political process and the national forces to get out of the political crisis and the state of obstruction, and the failure to form the new government to run the country negatively affected the reality of the situation, and there are a number of problems, most notably the absence of the federal budget, high prices and lack of services."
According to the statement, the two sides stressed the importance of continuing efforts, and there is still an opportunity to initiate understandings and dialogues between the national forces and the partners in the political process and to move forward in order to resolve differences, especially in front of all constitutional entitlements and timings. Ended 29 / p. 87 https://www.mawazin.net/Details.aspx?jimare=190028
Political Currents Fear The Re-Election: Their Audience Is Remorseful And The Coffers Are Empty
Posted On2022-04-13 By Sotaliraq Baghdad / Tamim Al-Hassan The idea of “rerunning the elections” frightens most of the parties to the coordination framework, which may demand changing the last election law, if it becomes the last solution.
During the past few days, some political circles began to accept the idea of "dissolving parliament" and then going to new early elections.
This solution comes as the last solution if the opposing forces fail to reach an agreement after the "Al-Sadr deadline", which is supposed to expire next month.
Suggestions to get out of the political crisis that has been going on for months have begun to shrink until everyone is spinning in a vicious circle.
The Sadrist movement, along with its partners in the tripartite alliance, insists on forming a majority government that may exclude most of the Shiite forces that win the elections.
On the other hand, the opponents of the Sadrists cling to what they describe as the "Shia's right" to form the largest bloc, before discussing the formation of the government or choosing a new prime minister.
Most expectations had suggested the establishment of a new government at the end of last year or the beginning of this year at the latest, had the country not entered into a series of legal interpretations that complicated the scene.
The tripartite alliance "Save the Homeland" was just around the corner last February from choosing the president of the republic, before the Federal Court turned the table with its famous interpretation of the quorum of the (president's) election session.
The court demanded that at least two-thirds of parliament members (220 deputies out of 329) be present in the session for electing the president of the republic, which then formed what became known as the “blocking third.”
The "trio", which includes the Sadrists, the Sovereignty Alliance, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, was officially announced last March that it was the largest bloc.
Reber Ahmed was nominated for the position of President of the Republic, a replacement for Hoshyar Zebari, who was removed from the position last February by a decision of the "Federal Union" in light of his dismissal from Parliament in 2016 due to corruption cases that were not proven, according to the latter's statements.
At that time, the coalition presented the cousin of the leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, and Iraq's ambassador in London, Jaafar al-Sadr, as a candidate to head the next government.
This nomination embarrassed the coordination framework, which could not object to it publicly because of the family history of the candidate, who is the son of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, founder of the Dawa Party.
On the other hand, the Coordinating Committee stipulated that the leader of the movement be the first within the largest bloc, and participate in at least half of the ministries that belong to the Shiites’ share.
In the beginning, Muqtada al-Sadr, according to political circles who spoke to Al-Mada, was ready to “discuss giving up” less than half of the Shiites’ share in the ministries, which is 12 out of 22 ministries.
According to those active circles in the political dialogues, the leader of the current "could have given up only 5 ministries, and negotiated that one or two of them would be sovereign."
In those negotiations - before entering into the last seclusion more than a week ago - Al-Sadr angered his opponents because of his desire to get "all the eggs in the basket."
It was according to the political custom followed in forming governments after 2003, that the party that obtains the position of prime minister relinquishes all shares (ministries) to its comrades in the same component.
But this time, the leader of the movement, and because he proposed the "political majority" project, was thinking of sharing shares between him and his allies in "save the nation."
Those sources continued, talking about how the negotiations reached a dead end: "After the coordination framework adhered to Nuri al-Maliki, in turn, the hardening of al-Sadr's position increased and his request to obtain all the whites (ministeries)."
12 ministries wanted by the leader of the Sadrist movement alone, in addition to the position of prime minister, and also demanded the handing over of “the faction’s weapons,” and “freedom to punish” any official, regardless of his position, if corruption cases were proven against him.
These requirements sparked disagreements between the Sadrists and the coordination framework, and ended at the beginning of Ramadan with the entry of “Al-Sadr” into isolation for forty days, leaving his opponents to face the problem of forming a government on their own.
The "Coordination Council" issued an angry statement the day before yesterday, in which it was considered that it was not interested in setting time limits, in reference to "Al-Sadr's deadline."
And the "Coordination" said in a statement issued after the latter's meeting on Monday evening, that the delay in forming the government "does not serve the interests of the Iraqi citizen, who aspires to improve his economic situation."
The statement stresses that the coordination framework "is not at all concerned with setting time limits that will only result in prolonging the political impasse and disrupting people's interests."
The statement stressed that the "Coordination Council" seeks to "reach realistic understandings with other political forces away from exclusivity or exclusion" in forming the largest bloc.
According to sources identical to the previous statement, the reason for the last statement is that the leader of the Sadrist movement: “completely closed any door to dialogue,” and he “categorically refuses to give any honorary positions.”
The "Coordination" had tried to evade the negotiations, by obtaining a position for former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, rejected by "Al-Sadr", as Vice Presidents of the Republic or the next ministers.
New elections
On the other hand, the political forces began, according to some leaks, to think seriously about the issue of dissolving parliament and then going to new early elections, as a solution to the crisis.
This option frightens most of the components of the coordination framework, as this team finds that its loss may widen if it contests new elections.
According to what is being circulated behind the scenes, "The Al-Fateh coalition believes that it may lose half of the seats it obtained in 2021."
Al-Fateh, one of the components of the coordination framework, lost about 30 seats from its results in 2018, when in 2021, it won only 17 seats, compared to about 50 seats in the previous elections.
On the other hand, the analyzes of the political forces after the results of the last elections that took place last October, indicate that the Sadrist movement's audience in the elections will remain stable, as will the republican forces of Sunni and Kurdish forces.
On the other hand, the fortunes of the independent forces or personalities can rise if the elections are repeated, as the last elections were the first experience for this team that did not participate in all its energy with the calls for a “boycott” that preceded the polls.
The “Coordination Committee” feared new elections, not only related to the number of votes, but also to the election law that was used for the first time and allowed the arrival of small forces, and the former accused him of being biased towards a certain party.
The Coordination Council, according to what is going on in closed rooms, if it agrees to repeat the elections, “will not agree to run in the last election law.”
The "frameworks" had accused the "Sadrists" several times of tailoring the law to their size, as well as appealing against the results, which lasted two months.
The law, which came in the wake of the October demonstrations, recognized for the first time the possibility of independents running in the elections on their own, and allowed multiple constituencies.
On the other hand, the process of re-election may be very costly for the parties, as it is estimated that the propaganda campaign only cost at least 8 million dinars per MP.
The Electoral Commission had also granted a budget of 300 million dollars, which is equivalent to about 45 billion dinars.
Meanwhile, Najm al-Qassab, a researcher in political affairs, believes that the crisis will not reach solutions with each of the parties clinging to their positions, even after the end of "Al-Sadr's deadline."
Al-Qassab added in an interview with Al-Mada that "solutions are very difficult, especially after the Sadrists were let down by the independents and did not attend the last session of the presidential elections."
The researcher calls on the leader of the Sadrist movement to "include parts of the coordination framework to the next government to end the problem." LINK
Al-Fatlawi Talks About The Framework Initiative To Form The Government: The Approval Of The Democrat May Tip The Scales
04/13/2022 Earth News/ A member of the Al-Fateh Alliance, Ali Hassan Al-Fatlawi, spoke today, Wednesday, on the initiative presented by the coordination framework to form the government and end the political blockage, indicating that the approval of the Kurdistan Democratic Party may change the scales.
Al-Fatlawi told Earth News, "The political data must be taken seriously, because this blockage created by the tripartite alliance gave the real result that the framework must be keen on the consensual process and facilitate the political process on a regular basis."
He added that "alliances today may change and there may be a new political system that may emerge on the scene, because the initiative that was put forward by the framework, especially Mr. Ammar al-Hakim, was also welcomed in this field, and some of them took it seriously."
Al-Fatlawi added that "the coordination framework sat for the purpose of debating about the initiative, which was acceptable, with the exception of the trio, who did not give a serious and explicit approval for now," noting that "there is a preliminary approval by the Democratic Party, and this may tip the scales."
And he indicated that "there is a possibility that new results will appear that differ from the results that were, and the coordinating framework today is on the right track," stressing that "there is no problem if the coordinating framework is the owner of the half plus one paper."
The government formation process is witnessing a state of political impasse, due to the Sadrist movement's adherence to the program of the national majority, while the coordination framework is trying to remain in the case of the Shiite majority and to guarantee the rights of the largest component.
The House of Representatives held two sessions to choose the President of the Republic and later turned into regular sessions due to the lack of a quorum to choose the President of the Republic. LINK
Shakhwan Abdullah: Parliament Continues To Function Despite The Delay In Electing The President Of The Republic And Forming The Government
Shafaq News/ The second deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Shakhwan Abdullah, confirmed on Tuesday that parliament continues its work and is keen to pass laws despite the delay in electing the president of the republic and forming the Iraqi government.
This came during his reception in his official office in Baghdad, the Australian ambassador to Iraq (Paula Ganley), with whom he discussed a number of issues and issues of common interest, according to a statement received by Shafaq News Agency.
The two sides stressed the importance of strengthening bilateral relations and ways to expand cooperation between the two friendly countries in all fields, support new MPs in this parliamentary session, and hold training courses to enable them to perform their legislative and oversight duties. The meeting was attended by Deputy Ambassador Bertek Rasussky.
In his speech, Shakhwan pointed out that "the House of Representatives continues its work and is keen to hold sessions and pass important laws despite the presence of political problems and disagreements, the state of obstruction, exceeding constitutional deadlines, not electing the President of the Republic and forming the new government has affected the situation in general, especially the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war."
On the economic side, the high prices of food commodities, as well as the failure to legislate the Federal Budget Law for the year 2022, which added another burden on the file of services and project implementation.
He expressed his hope that the political crisis would ease in the coming days.
For her part, Ganley expressed her happiness at the opportunity to hold this meeting to discuss a number of files and the work of the House of Representatives at the current stage, and stressed the keenness of the State of Australia to continue supporting the Iraqi government and people in a way that enhances stability and overcomes problems and challenges to achieve development and provide services to citizens. LINK
Three Problems Behind The Deterioration Of The {Iraqi Passport}
Posted On2022-04-12 By Sotaliraq Baghdad: Omar Abdul Latif The Iraqi passport ranked (before last) in the ranking of international passports, according to the classification of the Swiss consulting company “Henley & Partners” for the second quarter of 2022 based on the Freedom of Movement Index, and it is a rank inherent to the Iraqi passport for years, no less than the country’s rating. In other global indicators, the former Parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee identified 3 main problems for the deterioration of the classification of the Iraqi passport.
The former head of the Foreign Relations Committee in the House of Representatives, Abdel Bari Zebari, told Al-Sabah: “Legal, security and political problems control the status of the Iraqi passport among the passports of other countries of the world,” noting that “some countries tend to conclude agreements with each other to lift the entry visa because they You need the approval of Parliament, while the memorandum of understanding is easier than the agreements and does not need all that, and this legal problem is one of the problems of the low level of the Iraqi passport.”
He added, "Another problem is the political exploitation of this file by some blocs, as some refuse to lift (the visa) from the citizens of countries due to political problems between them and Iraq, while such a matter can facilitate the movement of Iraqis in those countries."
Regarding the Ministry of Interior’s procedure for converting the passport into an electronic one, Zebari stressed that “this matter can raise the level of the Iraqi passport technically and technically and prevent forgery, which facilitates Iraqis obtaining (visa), but it cannot raise the level of the Iraqi passport or raise (the visa) by some. countries, as this requires a binding agreement between Iraq and other countries.”
While the former head of the Parliamentary Committee praised the Iraqi government's decision to encourage investments inside the country and cancel entry visas for a group of countries, he added that "there must be reciprocity by those countries to the Iraqis."
According to the classification of the Swiss consulting company "Henley & Partners" for the second quarter of 2022, the Iraqi passport ranked penultimate based on the freedom of movement index by obtaining only 28 free visas, i.e. ranked 110 out of 111 countries listed in the table, preceded by the Syrian passport with 29 visas. free, and the Pakistani with 31 free visas, while the Afghan passport ranked last with 26 free visas.
As for the former member of the Foreign Relations Committee in the House of Representatives, Dr. Dhafer Al-Ani, he stated that “there are several factors that determine the strength of the passport in any country, and if it is not applied, you should not be surprised by its low status.”
Al-Ani added that “the global ranking of the status of any passport is measured by the number of countries allowed to enter without a visa, or whose visas are granted with simplified procedures, and this undoubtedly depends on several things, including (the extent of internal stability of any country), as some countries are strict in granting (visa) to countries. anxious in anticipation of immigration.”
And he indicated that "countries have security considerations in granting (visa) to citizens of countries where violence abounds for fear of terrorists or extremists moving to them, in addition to the element of reciprocity. Countries that are strict in granting a visa (such as Iraq) are strict in granting their citizens a visa," stressing that “Reforms must start from within first and then be organized through protocols duality.”
Editing: Muhammad Al-Ansari Disclaimer: All published articles represent the opinion of its authors only LINK