UN discusses political impasse with Supreme Judicial Council

Baghdad (IraqiNew.com) – The Special Representative for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, discussed on Monday the legal issues related to the political impasse in the country with the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Faiq Zeidan, according to a press statement issued by the Supreme Judicial Council.

The statement mentioned that Plasschaert and Zeidan, during their meeting in the headquarters of the Supreme Judicial Council in Baghdad, talked about the role of the Iraqi judiciary in addressing the legal problems related to the political crisis in Iraq.

The Supreme Judicial Council announced on Sunday that it does not have the authority to dissolve the Iraqi parliament. According to the principle of separation between the three legislative, executive and judicial powers in the Iraqi constitution, the Supreme Judicial Council is not authorized to interfere in the matters of the legislative or executive authorities.  

Powerful Iraqi Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr called on the country’s judiciary last Wednesday to dissolve parliament by the end of next week, threatening unspecific consequences if it does not do what he says, according to Reuters.

The populist leader helped inflame tensions in Iraq over the last two weeks by commanding thousands of followers to storm and occupy parliament, Reuters added.  

Iraq has been experiencing a political impasse since the parliamentary elections last October, in which the Sadrist Movement won the largest number of seats. But deputies of the Sadrist bloc resigned from parliament last June according to directives from their leader Moqtada Al-Sadr after failing to form a government or elect a new president for the country.