Iraq’s Parliament has endorsed amendments to the law of the country's Federal Supreme Court, allowing it to fill empty seats and thereby ratify the results of the coming October election.
When the court was created in 2005, details on how it should appoint new members was not part of the legislation, leading to deadlock when one member died and another retired in 2020.
The law stipulates the court will be made up of nine judges, including a head and deputy head. They will be chosen by the country’s judicial authorities in Baghdad and the self-ruled northern Kurdish region.
Political differences – mainly over the mechanism of choosing the court's members and whether it should pass judgments unanimously or by a simple majority – delayed the process for months. A two-thirds majority will now be enough to pass judgments on the court.
Thursday’s approval removed the last obstacle for holding early national elections in October, one of the key demands of the pro-reform protests that broke out in central and southern Iraq in late 2019.
Earlier in the process, Islamist parties introduced a new draft law to allow experts in Islamic jurisprudence to sit with the judges, suggesting two Shiite and two Sunni clerics.
That bill sparked controversy among advocates of the civil state and minorities, forcing parliament to withdraw it last week.
Shortly after the parliamentary session, the head of the Supreme Judicial Council called for a meeting on Monday to enact the law, according to a statement.
In addition to ratifying the results of the elections, the jurisdiction of the Federal Supreme Court is to interpret the constitution and to adjudicate over constitutional disputes.
Politicians in November 2019 approved a new election law and introduced new amendments last year. The law gives independent candidates the chance to win seats in the legislative body.
The new law also divides Iraq into multiple constituencies, unlike previous elections in which the country was treated as one constituency and all parties took seats depending on their share of the national vote.
The new system is designed to prevent political parties from running unified lists that in the past allowed them to sweep parliamentary seats.
