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Lame-Duck Lawmakers Push Through
Kurdistan's New Charter
27.6.2009
By Mohammed A. Salih
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June
27, 2009
A draft constitution
passed by the
parliament of Iraqi Kurdistan has drawn divided
reactions, with some questioning the very legitimacy
of a lame-duck parliament to pass the single most
important legal document of the Kurdish region and
others touting it as a positive step forward.
The Kurdish parliament has 111 members. But only 97
took part in the vote Wednesday, in which 96
lawmakers voted in favour of the draft constitution.
The parliament’s four-year mandate officially ended
on Jun. 4. Despite widespread criticism, lawmakers
had renewed their term for one more month based on a
provision in the legislature’s statute that allows
the extension. |
Mohammed A. Salih |
Citing prevalent
conventions in democratic systems, critics question
the wisdom and intention behind a hasty move by a
lame-duck parliament to vote on the charter after
only two sessions of debate. Some parliament members
had complained that the draft text was handed to
them only 24 hours before the voting session.
The majority of parliament members had earlier
decided in favour of the extension, citing examples
of countries such as Sudan and civil-war-era Lebanon
that had extended the function of their parliaments.
But that argument has not resonated with many in
Kurdistan, including some parliament members who
question the seriousness of Kurdish leaders’
democracy rhetoric while following models like Sudan
and Lebanon of 1970s and 1980s when it was plagued
by bloody internal war.
"Parliament is like a pact between people and
lawmakers. That pact came to an end earlier this
month," Osman Banimarani, a Kurdish parliamentarian
told IPS, in a phone interview from Irbil, Iraq.
Banimarani was one of seven lawmakers who boycotted
the voting session. "There has been no natural
disaster, civil war or foreign aggression in
Kurdistan. So why not wait for the new parliament to
take charge and decide on the constitution?" he
said.
Elections are scheduled for Jul. 25 to elect a new
parliament and president for the region. The Kurdish
government hopes to hold a referendum on the draft
constitution on the same date. It will not take
effect until approved by a simple majority of
voters.
The move to hastily pass the draft constitution was
masterminded by the two major Iraqi Kurdish parties,
the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
The KDP is led by Massoud Barzani who is the
president of Kurdistan region, while Iraq’s
president, Jalal Talabani, heads the PUK.
Massoud Barzani is one of the five candidates
running for the office of the president of the
autonomous Kurdish region in July. He is thought to
be the likely winner of the upcoming elections as
well, thanks to the alliance that he has forged with
his long-time rival Jalal Talabani.
Iraqi Kurdistan includes the three northern
provinces of Erbil, Sulaimaniyah and Duhok. An
autonomous region within Iraq, it has its own
constitution, government, parliament and armed
forces.
A major source of concern in the current draft is
the powers invested in the president. While Iraq’s
national constitution gives the president largely
ceremonial roles, the Kurdish one makes the
president of the autonomous region the most powerful
individual in effect.
Although the Iraqi constitution authorises the
national parliament in Baghdad to impeach both the
president and prime minister of the country, the
Kurdish parliament has no such powers.
The legislature in Kurdistan can only indict the
president for elastic charges such as "high treason"
and "breach of the constitution". It is left it to
Kurdistan's Constitutional Court to decide whether
or not to oust the president. Members of that court
are to be nominated by the president and approved by
the parliament.
But in a part of world that has little experience
with an independent judiciary, some believe that
means the president cannot be relieved in practice
until his term comes to an end.
"Our region’s past experience carries serious
worries that an overly powerful executive branch
will not be in favour of democracy," Bilal Wahab, an
Iraqi Kurdish political and governance analyst based
in Washington, told IPS.
The draft of the Kurdish constitution states the
president of the region will be elected through
popular vote while on the national level both
president and prime minister will be elected by
parliament members.
Many Kurds argue that runs contrary to the very
nature of the political system in Iraq. The national
constitution, for which the overwhelming majority of
Kurds voted in 2005, clearly stipulates that Iraq
has a parliamentary system and that no regional
constitution within the country should contradict
that.
"The draft constitution creates a hybrid system of
presidential and parliamentary systems which creates
an executive branch that is strong and that claims
popular legitimacy equal to parliament," Wahab said.
However, he believes that the draft constitution has
managed to create a delicate system of checks and
balances that if followed "hold the promise of a
constitutional democracy" for Kurdistan.
"There are a lot of beautifully written laws that
remain ink on paper and are not implemented on the
ground," he cautioned.
Kurdish officials promise the supremacy of the
constitution once it takes effect. Stressing the
progressive aspects of the charter, Adnan Mufti,
Speaker of the Kurdish Parliament, had said it
provides broader rights for ethnic and religious
minorities in Kurdistan than the national
constitution does.
The draft constitution allows cultural and political
rights for minorities, including education in their
mother tongue. It even allows ethnic and religious
minorities to establish autonomous administrative
areas within the boundaries of the Kurdistan region.
Unlike the Iraqi constitution, the Kurdish charter
does not declare Islam the official religion of the
state, a provision that has been applauded by
secularists in the autonomous region. It also
prohibits all forms of discrimination based on
gender, religion, ethnicity and ideology, among
others.
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