Iraqi Court Orders Parliament to Work
The New York Times reports:
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s highest court on Sunday ordered Parliament, elected in March and convened only once for 18 minutes, to resume its sessions, adding another wrinkle to a lengthy crisis that has tested the country’s institutions and unsettled its people.
The Federal Supreme Court called the delay unconstitutional, and the acting speaker promised to convene Parliament again within days. But the decision seemed more procedural than decisive, and perhaps set the stage for another constitutional crisis. Parliament has gone unattended as Iraq’s most powerful blocs have tried for seven months to negotiate an agreement on the government’s top posts. They still seem weeks, even months, from a deal.
“Holding the session at this time will be the beginning of another problem,” warned Izz al-Din al-Dawla, a member of Iraqiya, one of the top vote-getters in the March 7 election.
Before and after that vote, Iraq’s political process has shown a marked tendency toward opacity, and powerful politicians have often deployed the military and quasi-official bodies to settle scores and further their ambitions. The federal court is no exception, and critics have derided some of its decisions this year as serving the agenda of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who is still likely to return to power for another four years.
Sunday’s ruling came in response to a case filed by a civil society group, backed by the venerable but small Communist Party, against the acting Parliament speaker, Fouad Massoum. With the backing of most factions, Mr. Massoum convened the 325-member Council of Representatives in June, then left it open indefinitely, but unattended, to give politicians time to negotiate the makeup of a government that will preside over the American withdrawal of 50,000 troops by 2012.
The court agreed with the civil society group’s contention that Mr. Massoum’s procedural move was unconstitutional and ordered lawmakers to resume work.
Iraqi activists celebrated the decision as a step toward strengthening political life and addressing deepening popular anger with the country’s political class — not least with the newly elected lawmakers, who have not met in more than four months but continue to receive their salaries of about $11,000 a month.
“This is a historic moment for us, the civil society organizations,” a leading activist, Hanaa Edwar, said. If the lawmakers do not convene the session again soon, she said, “we will go to the court and ask them to dissolve Parliament.”
