Iraq's federal court nullifies two controversial parliament sessions

Iraqi federal court on Tuesday nullified two parliament sessions held earlier by divided lawmakers, and quashed relevant decisions that included the sack of parliament speaker and partially cabinet reshuffle, the Iraqi judiciary said.

"The Federal Court decided today to nullify the two parliament sessions held on April 14 and 26," the judicial spokesman Abdul Sattar al-Biraqdar said in a statement.

The court decision came after each of the two sides of the divided parliament lawmakers presented appeals to the federal court about the parliament session of the other side. Both complained that the session of the other side was marred by constitutional violations.

During the past few months, a critical divide appeared in the 328-seat Iraqi parliament after dozens of legislators criticized the speaker Salim al-Jubouri for the repeated delay of the proposed vote on the new cabinet candidates according to the reforms proposed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

On April 14, the protesting lawmakers held an emergency session headed by Adnan al-Janabi, an elder member of the Parliament, after al-Jubouri and his two deputies Humam Hamoudi and Aram Sheikh Mohammed did not attend the session. The dissenting legislators voted in sacking al-Jubouri and chose al-Janabi instead as interim parliament speaker.

However, sacking al-Jubouri was rejected by the legislators' other camp, who argued that the session was unconstitutional due to the insufficient required quorum.

On April 26, the parliament held a session but it turned into chaos once Abadi entered the hall, as about 30 dissenting legislators kept shouting "illegal" referring to Parliament Speaker Salim Al-Jubouri whom they dismissed earlier during an emergency session.

Later in the day, al-Jubouri's camp held a parliament session after a number of dissenting legislators ended their protest and joined the parliament which reconvened in another parliament building hall.

Subsequently, Abadi presented his cabinet candidates and the cabinet approved five of Abadi's list after voting on dismissing the previous ministers.

The court's verdict could be viewed as a serious blow to Abadi's efforts for presenting comprehensive reforms, including a government reshuffle, better services and an end to corruption.

A series of failed reform measures have paralyzed Iraq's parliament and the government as the country struggles to fight the Islamic State (IS) militant group, which seizes swathes of territories in northern and western Iraq, and in dire need to respond to an economic crisis sparked in part by a plunge in global oil prices. Endit