Iraq Parliament seeks top court ruling on presidential election deadline

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq’s Parliament has asked the Federal Supreme Court to interpret a constitutional article governing the election of the president, after lawmakers failed to hold a quorum and missed the deadline set for the vote.

Speaker Haibet al-Halbousi submitted the request in an official letter on February 12, seeking clarification of Article 72 (Second/B) of the constitution. The provision states that the president continues to perform duties after the end of the term until a successor is elected within 30 days of the parliament’s first session, a deadline that expired on January 28.

Although the Council of Representatives has continued to convene and conduct its regular legislative agenda, according to the document, it has not re-scheduled the presidential vote due to the ongoing lack of sufficient attendance. The speaker asked the court to determine the legal implications of this situation and clarify how the constitutional text should be applied.

Under Iraq’s power-sharing system, the presidency is held by a Kurd, the prime ministership by a Shiite, and the speakership by a Sunni Arab.

Previous attempts to elect a president failed due to disputes between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the two main Kurdish parties, which have not agreed on a joint nominee, repeatedly preventing the quorum required for a vote.

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