Iraqi Parliament faces challenges in passing key laws amid disputes

Shafaq News/ On Sunday, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani met with the heads of parliamentary blocs to discuss the possibility of passing important laws. However, some lawmakers have ruled out holding parliamentary sessions during the current phase due to various challenges facing the legislative authority in the fifth parliamentary session.

"There is difficulty in holding parliamentary sessions due to disagreements over contentious laws. Added to these are the amendments to the budget law, which have faced various parliamentary objections, hindering the session due to lack of quorum," Mukhtar al-Mousawi, a member of Al-Fatah Alliance, told Shafaq News, noting that the boycott by the Taqaddum parliamentary bloc has further impacted holding the sessions.

He called for "an urgent parliamentary-political meeting to resolve disputes and prevent the disruption of legislative and oversight work, especially as the parliament's term is nearing its end."

Last week, the Taqaddum bloc, led by Mohammed al-Halbousi, announced its boycott of parliamentary sessions due to breaches of political agreements related to the approval of the general amnesty law.

In addition to the stalled general amnesty law, there are several contentious and controversial laws still pending due to the lack of political consensus, including the personal status law, the property reinstitution law, and important legislative projects such as the oil and gas law, amendments to the budget schedules, the intelligence service law, and the retirement law.

These laws face the risk of being postponed to the sixth parliamentary session due to the remaining term of the current parliament and the ongoing disputes.