On Sunday, doubts hung over a scheduled parliamentary vote for Iraq’s president after the Iraqi Supreme Court temporarily suspended Iraqi Representative Hoshyar Zebari, a frontrunner for the post, and leading legislative factions announced a boycott.
The decisions not to attend yesterday’s session highlight the political divisions in the war-scarred country hobbled by corruption and poverty.
The largest legislative bloc, holding 73 seats in the Iraqi Council of Representatives and led by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, was the first to boycott, saying on Saturday that it would not attend the session.
Photo: Reuters
That was followed on Sunday with a boycott by the Sovereignty Coalition, made up of 51 representatives and led by Iraqi Speaker of the Council of Representatives Mohammed al-Halbussi, an ally of al-sadr.
The third party in their informal alliance, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), from which Zebari hails, said that it, too, would not be there to fill its 31 seats.
This is in order to “continue consultations and dialogue between political blocs,” it said.
Their decision came after the Iraqi Supreme Court cited years-old corruption charges against Zebari in suspending him.
The successive boycotts might have ended with yesterday’s session being canceled or postponed due to the lack of a quorum, which is set at two-thirds of the 329-seat chamber.
A scheduled presidential vote follows October legislative elections marred by record-low turnout, post-election threats and violence, and a delay until final results were confirmed in late December.
Intense negotiations among political groups since then have failed to form a majority coalition to name a prime minister.
Zebari was one of two main contenders for the largely ceremonial post of president, which has a four-year mandate and by convention is held by a member of Iraq’s Kurdish minority.
The other favored candidate, out of about 25 nominees, is the incumbent Barham Saleh. He is the candidate of KDP’s rival in Iraqi Kurdistan, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
In suspending Zebari, the court said it had received a complaint from lawmakers that his candidacy was “unconstitutional” because of the graft claims.
It said the suspension was “temporary” while the court considers the case.
Iraq’s highest judicial body said the complainants consider that Zebari does not fulfil constitutional requirements that the head of state must have “a good reputation and integrity.”
The court cited his 2016 dismissal from the post of finance minister by the chamber “over charges linked to financial and administrative corruption.”
Public funds worth US$1.8 million were allegedly diverted to pay for airline tickets for his personal security detail.
Zebari, 68, has always denied all corruption accusations.
“I have not been convicted in any court,” Zebari said in a television interview on Friday night as the charges resurfaced alongside forecasts that he would unseat Saleh.
The complaint also cited at least two other judicial cases linked to him, including when he was the country’s long-time foreign minister after the fall of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
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