Escalation of Political Crisis in Iraq with Representatives' Move to Dismiss Parliament Speaker

Reports indicate that several members of the Iraqi parliament voted on Thursday, April 26, to dismiss Salim al-Jabouri, the Speaker, and two Deputy Speakers of Parliament; an action that Mr. al-Jabouri deemed unconstitutional and invalid. These developments are a result of the political crisis stemming from disagreements over the introduction of a new cabinet by Haider al-Abadi, the Prime Minister of Iraq. A group of representatives is calling for the introduction of a technocratic government, while another group insists on the political parties' privileges in the government. According to Agence France-Presse, Adnan al-Janabi, who presided over the Sunni session of Parliament due to al-Jabouri's absence, told reporters: 'We congratulate the people of Iraq on the downfall of the first leader of the quotas.' He added: 'After the legal quorum of 174 representatives who legally requested the dismissal of the parliamentary leadership was completed, this leadership was dismissed based on the constitution.' He continued: 'The leadership consisting of the Speaker of Parliament (Salim al-Jabouri) and two Deputy Speakers (Hammam Hamoudi and Aram Sheikh Mohammed) has been dismissed.' Al-Janabi further stated that candidates for the leadership could register on Saturday. Niyazi Aghlu, the session's secretary, also announced: 'In today's session with the presence of 173 representatives, the leadership was dismissed.' It is noteworthy that the Iraqi parliament has 328 representatives. Following this, the Iraqi parliament officially announced that 171 out of 174 present representatives voted positively for the dismissal of the leadership. In his first reaction to this action, Salim al-Jabouri deemed the representatives' move to dismiss the leadership illegal. He stated at a press conference that no call had been made to convene a parliamentary session. Al-Jabouri explained the reason for his absence from the parliamentary session, saying that the Prime Minister, who was supposed to introduce his new government, did not attend the parliament, and the number of representatives did not reach the quorum; therefore, the vote on the new government was postponed to Saturday. The crisis that led representatives to request al-Jabouri's dismissal was the suspension of the parliamentary session last Tuesday, where representatives were supposed to vote on 14 ministers that Mr. al-Abadi had introduced after negotiations with political factions. A large number of representatives rejected voting on this list and demanded a vote on the first cabinet that Mr. al-Abadi had introduced the previous week; a cabinet of 16 ministers who are technocrats and independents. However, the Prime Minister of Iraq, under pressure from political parties insisting on the presence of their representatives in the government, was forced to withdraw the first list and introduce a new cabinet. Thus, al-Abadi decided to suspend the session. However, opponents of this action reacted by staging a sit-in in the parliament and demanded the dismissal of the leadership. Haider al-Abadi, under popular pressure and also from the Sadr movement, is seeking to implement reforms including changing the government and limiting sectarian and political quotas. However, influential Iraqi parties oppose such reforms. Since Tuesday, dozens of Iraqi parliament representatives have been staging a sit-in in the parliament. On Wednesday, Mr. al-Jabouri went to the parliament to hold an urgent session to vote on the new cabinet, but physical altercations among some representatives caused the session to be suspended again.