The most contentious points of the Iraqi Constitution involve Article 140, which looks at the disputed territories, Article 115 which looks at the powers of the federal and provincial and regional governments as well as Article 41, which relates to personal status laws.
However there is possibly one task for Iraq’s new Parliament that is more pressing than almost all of the rest of them. Parliament needs to reclaim its vital role inside the Iraqi system of government. MPs are supposed to provide checks and balances to the power wielded by the Iraqi prime Minister and other branches of government. However during Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, Parliament’s powers were usurped, taken away or the decisions made by the multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian body were simply ignored.
Iraq’s Parliament is supposed to appoint various heads of state as well as of the military and the courts and it should have the power to hold all officials to account.
“But al-Maliki’s government ignored Parliament on more than one occasion,” MP Mohammed al-Mashkour told NIQASH.
So far, so good though: Last month Iraq’s new Parliament managed to elect a Speaker for Parliament and it has also managed to form several temporary committees to deal with urgent issues related to finance and refugees and displaced people.
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