Baghdad Head of the Supreme Judicial Council, Faeq Zaidan, considered the condition of electing the President of the Republic by a two-thirds majority of the total number of members of Parliament, as a reason for the political crisis that Iraq is currently witnessing.
He said in a statement: The House of Representatives is unable to hold a session to elect the President of the Republic unless a quorum of two-thirds of the total number of members of the House is achieved and then move to vote on the competing candidates for this position as a first step, that the winner must obtain a two-thirds majority of the total number of members of the House of Representatives, which of the candidates for this majority is the competition among the candidates who obtained the highest votes, and this is the second step according to the provisions of Article (70) of the Constitution.
Zaidan added that: Because of this restriction set by the constitutional legislator, the constitutional period of thirty days has expired from the date of the first session of the House of Representatives on (1/1/2022), which is the period specified by Article (72/second/b) of the Constitution for the President of the Republic to continue to exercise his duties Until after the end of the elections for the new House of Representatives, and we entered the stage of constitutional jurisprudence regarding whether or not the president should continue to exercise his duties until a new president is elected.
He indicated that the Federal Court had previously worked hard in 2010 under its decision No. (51/Federal/2010) issued on 13/7/2010 that the Presidency Council (which was performing the duties of the President of the Republic at the time) continues to exercise the functions of the President of the Republic until the election of a President of the Republic despite the constitutional breach (as described by the court in the aforementioned decision) for exceeding the period specified for electing a new President of the Republic.
Zaidan continued: This jurisprudence followed the example of the Federal Court (with its new formation) according to its decision No. (24 / Federal / 2022) issued on February 13, 2022, where it authorized the continuation of the President of the Republic in his duties until the election of a new President in accordance with the requirements of necessity and public interest despite the expiration of the constitutional period specified by Article (72/second/b).
Source: National Iraqi News Agency