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Annex to Iraqi
Transitional Administrative Law
The Transitional Administrative Law will be the
Supreme Law of Iraq, during the transitional period.
It will expire once a government is elected under a
permanent constitution and take office. This will
happen no later than December 31, 2005.
The transitional period
will consist of two phases:
● Phase I: On 30 June 2004, an Iraqi Interim
Government will be vested with full sovereignty, and
the Coalition Provisional Authority will dissolve.
This Iraqi government will be formed through a
process of widespread consultation with the Iraqi
people and will govern according to the Transitional
Administrative Law and an annex to be issued before
the beginning of the transitional period.
● Phase II: The Iraqi Transitional Government
will take office after elections for the National
Assembly. These elections will take place as soon as
possible, but no later than 31 January 2005.
The Fundamental Principles
of the Law include the following:
●The system of government in Iraq will be
republican, federal, democratic, and pluralistic.
Federalism will be based on geography, history, and
the separation of powers and not on ethnicity or
sect.
●The Iraqi Armed Forces will fall under the
control of Iraq’s civilian political leadership.
● Islam will be the official religion of the
State and will be considered a source of
legislation. The Law will respect the Islamic
identity of the majority of the Iraqi people and
guarantee the freedom of religious belief and
practice.
● Arabic and Kurdish will be the official
languages of Iraq.
The people of Iraq are
sovereign and free. All Iraqis are equal
in their rights and without regard to gender,
nationality, religion, or ethnic origin and they are
equal before the law. Those unjustly deprived of
their citizenship by previous Iraqi regimes will
have the right to reclaim their citizenship. The
government will respect the rights of the people,
including the rights:
● To freedom of thought, conscience, and
expression;
● To assemble peaceably and to associate and
organize freely;
● To justice; to a fair, speedy, and open
trial and to the presumption of innocence;
● To vote, according to law, in free, fair,
competitive and periodic elections;
● To file grievances against officials when
these rights have been violated.
The Transitional Iraqi
Government will contain checks, balances, and the
separation of powers. The federal
government will have the exclusive right to exercise
sovereign power in a number of critical areas,
including the management and control of the
following:
● National security policy; independent
militias shall be prohibited,
● Foreign policy, diplomatic representation,
and border control,
● National fiscal, monetary and commercial
policy,
● National resources; revenues from which
must be spent on the needs of all of Iraq’s regions
in an equitable manner.
The Transitional
Legislative Authority will be vested in a
National Assembly, which will pass laws and help
select and oversee the work of the executive
authority. The National Assembly will be freely
elected by the people of Iraq, under an electoral
system designed to achieve representation of women
of at least one-quarter of its members, as well as
fair representation of all of Iraq’s communities.
The Transitional Executive
Authority will consist of the Presidency
and the Council of Ministers, including the Prime
Minister.
● The Presidency Council will consist of the
President and two Deputy Presidents, and will be
elected by the National Assembly as a group. The
Presidency Council will represent the sovereignty of
Iraq, may veto laws, and make appointments. All
decisions of the Presidency Council will be taken
unanimously.
● The Presidency Council will nominate the
Prime Minister and, on the recommendation of the
Prime Minister, will also nominate the Council of
Ministers. All ministers will need to be confirmed
in a vote of confidence by the National Assembly.
● The Prime Minister and the Council of
Ministers will oversee the day-to-day management of
the government.
The Federal Judicial
Authority will be independent. A Federal
Supreme Court will be created to hear judicial
appeals and to ensure that all laws in Iraq are
consistent with the Transitional Administrative Law.
It will consist of nine members, who will be
appointed by the Presidency Council upon the
recommendation of an impartial Higher Juridical
Council.
Federalism and local
government will ensure a unified Iraq and
prevent the concentration of power in the central
government that enabled decades of tyranny and
oppression. This will encourage the exercise of
local authority in which all citizens are able to
participate actively in political life.
● The Kurdistan Regional Government will be
recognized as an official regional government within
a unified Iraq, and will continue to exercise many
of the functions it currently exercises. Groups of
governorates elsewhere in Iraq will be permitted to
form regions, and take on additional authorities.
● The governorates will have Governors and
Governorate Councils, in addition to municipal,
local, and city councils as appropriate.
● All authorities not reserved to the Federal
Government may be exercised as appropriate by the
governorates and the Kurdistan Regional Government.
● Elections for Governorate Councils
throughout Iraq, and also for the Kurdistan National
Assembly will be held at the same time as elections
for the National Assembly, no later than 31 January
2005.
Iraq’s security will be
defended by Iraqi Armed Forces, working together
with the Coalition. Consistent with
Iraq’s sovereign status, the Iraqi Armed Forces will
play a leading role as a partner in the
multinational force helping to bring security to
Iraq in the transitional period. The Iraqi
Transitional Government will also have the authority
to negotiate a security agreement with Coalition
forces.
The National Assembly will
be responsible for drafting the permanent
constitution. After consulting with the
Iraqi people and completing a draft, the proposed
constitution will be submitted to the public in a
referendum, which will occur no later than 15
October 2005. If the constitution is adopted,
elections for a new government under the
constitution will be held, and the new government
will take office no later than 31 December 2005.
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