ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s top court on Sunday announced it would look into cases filed against the first parliamentary session on Wednesday after temporarily suspending the new parliament’s leadership body last week. The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court said it would consider the cases filed by MPs Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and Bassim Khazaal on Wednesday morning, according to the Iraqi state media (INA). The MPs on Tuesday called on the court to suspend the work of the parliamentary head on the grounds that their election process was in violation of the constitution and the parliament’s bylaws. The court on Thursday ruled to temporarily suspend the recently elected parliamentary head and his deputies until the two cases against their election process are settled. The case comes as parliament attempts to form a new government, closing the nomination period for a new president on Thursday. According to the Iraqi constitution, a president should be elected no later than February 8, 2022. However, MPs speaking to Rudaw say neither the suspension of the parliamentary leadership nor the court cases will impede the election of a president. “This will not affect the presidential election for it will take its normal course, and these cases are meant to be solved before the parliament decides on a president,” the Kurdistan Democratic Party's (KDP) Shakhawan Abdullah, who was elected second deputy of the parliamentary speaker during the now suspended session told Rudaw English on Thursday. The Iraqi parliament held its first session last Sunday almost three months after October’s early election. During the meeting, the head of Taqadum Coalition Mohammed al-Halbousi was re-elected for a second term as speaker of Iraq’s parliament and Sadrist MP Hakim al-Zamli was elected as his first deputy speaker of the body, with KDP’s Abdullah as second deputy. The legislative session had earlier erupted into disorder after the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Shiite factions that continue to object to the election results, submitted a paper claiming they, rather than the Sadrist Movement, now hold the biggest parliamentary bloc with 88 seats, MPs from the scene told Rudaw. The eldest MP Mashhadani, who was leading the session, was evacuated from the hall after falling ill following the flare-up of tensions and arguments between the blocs. The Coordination Framework, however, condemned what happened in the session, saying they “will not recognize the outcomes” of it as the eldest member, who is constitutionally required to chair the session, was “absent.”
