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Speaker of Kurdistan parliament promises change, but Kurdish
opposition parties doubtful |
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Speaker of Kurdistan parliament promises
change, but Kurdish opposition parties doubtful
25.2.2012 |
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February 25, 2012
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — How will the Kurdish
Parliament look a year and a half from now? Will the
parliament become a center of reconciliation between
the various coalitions and their differences, as the
new speaker of parliament has said, or will the
present trend of boycotts by the opposition
continue?
"We spent half of our time saying ‘no, sit down’ or
‘please delete his comment from the registry,’”
Rebaz Fatah, the deputy head of the Change Movement
(Gorran) recently wrote on his Facebook page,
referring to the parliamentary sessions of the past
two years.
The Kurdistan Region Parliament
voted
in Arsalan Bayiz, a senior official with the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), as the new
speaker of Parliament, and Hassan Muhammad Sura, a
member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), as
his deputy.
The past two years were particularly challenging for
the former speaker of Parliament, Kemal Kirkuki,
thanks to the emergence of three opposition parties
following the 2009 elections.
Kirkuki’s performance was often
criticized by opposition MPs, who
complained that they didn’t have any freedoms in
Parliament.
But Omar Nurradin, a Parliament member, believes
that MPs had the freedom to speak and, if there were
restrictions, it was only due to the rules of the
parliament.
Opposition MPs were particularly angry for the
passing of the region’s budget while they boycotted
parliament. But the speaker of parliament at the
time argued that the coalition of the PUK and KDP
had the majority of seats and didn’t need the
opposition’s approval for passing the bill.
In his swearing in speech, Bayiz, the new speaker of
parliament, said, "We want to work to make this
parliament a uniting point between the various
opinions of the different groups. We will try to
create a balance between the different coalitions,www.ekurd.net
to listen to everyone, to try through meeting with
various committees to listen to each other and get
closer to one another in passing laws and bills in
parliament."
Does this speech mean the members of parliament will
have more powers and rights to air their opinion?
Abdullah Mala Nuri, a Gorran MP, told Rudaw that
Bayiz said "beautiful things" in his speech about
changing the guidelines of parliament, having more
active committees and involving people's
participation.
"These are all great things to do, but how can this
speech be put into action? Only time will tell,"
Mala Nuri said.
Dilshad Shahab, an MP from the Kurdistani Coalition,
believes that Bayiz’s speech shows that the new
speaker of parliament wants to make changes.
Mala Nuri, who is known for his heated arguments in
the past with the former speaker of parliament,
believes that having the desire for change is not
enough.
“If the new speaker of the parliament has the will
to make changes, change is possible, but only having
the will is not enough,” he said. “The will has to
be that of the political process that made him the
speaker of parliament."
Goran Azad, an MP from the Kurdistani Coalition,
believes that, "It is important for the PUK and KDP,
for the coalition majority, to make parliament more
active in passing laws and overseeing such beliefs
must become a principle for them."
Azad said the next two years can be used by
parliament to pass laws and bills that were delayed
in the previous round.
"There are more than 50 laws in parliament to be
passed. Some of them could be combined, some
delayed, but they must all be discussed," he said.
According to Azad, the most important laws to revise
and reform are “the demonstration laws, access to
information, the judicial system and the funding for
the political parties."
Muhammad Hussein, a political observer, believes
that future parliamentary sessions will be less
turbulent, for the opposition MPs have gained more
experience and Nechirvan Barzani, the new prime
minister, enjoys more freedom from his KDP party
that will allow him to curb political interference
in the government.
Kurdistan Region’s 111-seat Parliament was
established in 1992.
By Adnan Hussein
Copyright ©, respective
author or news agency,
rudaw.net
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