Sulaimaniya, Jan.26 (AKnews)- Following a ruling by the Iraqi Federal Court for appending the state-run independent bodies to the Council of Ministers which triggered accusation of bias against the court, the chiefs for the boards to discuss their views with regard to the decision in parliament next week.
The attachment of self-determining organizations as the Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq (IHEC), the Integrity Board, the de-Baathification National Board, the Financial Auditing Divan, and the Media and Relations Board provoked discontent among the Kurdish deputies and lawmakers from al-Iraqiya bloc, led by Iyad Allawi. Al-Iraqiya accused court of “partiality.”
In the due meeting in parliament, in addition to spotlighting the legal implications of the decision, its negative consequences will be clarified for the lawmakers, Sardar Abdul-Rahman, a Kurdish member of the IHEC told AKnews Wednesday.
He hoped the explanation may help parliament shape “a correct decision.”
Abdul-Karim believed the Federal Court has contradicted a statement made by the court itself in 2006 in response to a question over the notion of board’s “sovereignty”. Then the court clarified the boards can only be questioned by the Iraqi parliament, stressing “except for law, no authority is higher than the authority of the boards.”
As the IHEC member stated under law, only the Iraqi parliament can investigate or oversee the conduct of the IHEC or its members. He noted any change in the internal policy for the sovereign bodies should be sanctioned by law in parliament.
The Federal Court ruled Jan.18 that the bodies which are mentioned independent in the Iraqi constitution should be annexed to the Council of Ministers, following a request by the council.
This is not the first time the court is accused of “favoritism”. A ruling by the court after March 7, 2010 elections, “deprived” Allawi as majority winner of taking over the Prime Minister post and served his rival, Nouri al-Maliki to assume the position for the second term.
aknews
