The newspapers issued in Baghdad today, Monday, September 2, followed the developments of the parliament presidency crisis and the mechanism for resolving it, and the government’s efforts to enhance and expand cooperation with American companies in the field of gas investment.
Regarding the parliament presidency crisis, the newspaper, Al-Zawraa, issued by the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate said: “The MP of the Coordination Framework, Firas Al-Maslamawi, confirmed that the crisis of electing the Speaker of the House of Representatives is on its way to being resolved, and that Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani is the most prominent candidate for the position.”
It quoted Al-Maslamawi as saying: “The dialogue is ongoing on the file of electing the Speaker of the House of Representatives in order to resolve it, considering that it has been delayed a lot,” noting that the Coordination Framework is pushing the wheel to accelerate the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives as an entitlement that must be completed
.
He added: “There are ongoing dialogues within the Sunni component as well as within the Coordination Framework in order to pass the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the coming period,” indicating that “at the present time, the most prominent candidate for the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives is Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani.
He continued: “I expect that this file has become close to being resolved after it represented a political knot and an intensification of the Sunni-Sunni dispute over reaching a mechanism for choosing a suitable person for this position, but after the intervention of the Coordination Framework, I believe that the matter is close to being resolved.”
For his part, legal expert Ali Al-Tamimi said in an interview with Al-Zawraa: “Article 55 of the Constitution stipulates that the House of Representatives elects its president in its first session by an absolute majority of the number of members, i.e. half the total number plus one, which was confirmed by Article 12/3
of the House of Representatives Bylaw No. 1 of 2022, and the session is managed by the first deputy, when the position is vacant for any reason, whether the vacancy is for the president or one of his deputies.”
He added: “The door for nomination is opened by the head of the session, i.e. the first deputy, then the process of direct secret balloting begins from the deputies by voting with papers and sorting the votes on the board, then the one who obtains the highest votes among the candidates and the percentage of half the number plus one is the Speaker of Parliament and takes the constitutional oath before Parliament in accordance with Article 50 of the Iraqi Constitution.”
On the same subject, Al-Sabah newspaper, published by the Iraqi Media Network, said: ‘The House of Representatives is still without a president, although its usual work is proceeding smoothly in terms of legislation and oversight, and its members meet at the specified times according to a decided agenda, but the absence of the president
remains a sign indicating the absence of practical consensus. Consensus, as we know, is the basis of Iraqi political work.’
It added: ‘The views of the members of parliament vary greatly between the two sides of optimism and pessimism about the imminent achievement of a breakthrough in the file of their parliament’s president. While some MPs said that a few days separate us from resolving the matter, others indicated that the disagreement that prevented agreement on a specific name is still ongoing until now. While some saw that no candidate enjoys absolute acceptance from the Sunnis, others stated that there are actually five names proposed that are acceptable, and that the expected president will be one of them.’
It continued: “Part of the long-standing problem is related to the parliament’s internal regulations, which limit the nomination of new names for candidacy, and the largest part of the problem is related to the lack of consensus among the representatives of the Sunni component, which political cu
stom has granted the right to nominate the president.”
It concluded by saying: “Between this and that, matters remain on the horizon of waiting, since the council’s work is carried out automatically and there is no upcoming session related to choosing the president despite calls to hold it.”
On the economic front, Al-Zaman newspaper followed the visit of a high-level oil delegation to the United States to sign agreements on gas investment.
The newspaper said: “An Iraqi delegation begins an official visit to the United States of America, within the framework of the government’s efforts to strengthen economic partnerships and expand the horizons of cooperation with American companies specialized in the gas sector.”
It pointed out that the Minister of Oil, Hayan Abdul Ghani, said: “The fifth supplementary and sixth licensing rounds included 29 blocks and fields, and contracts were completed for 14 of them, and there are about 10 gas blocks among the remaining that companies have not applied for and we are in
the process of offering them in a new licensing round.”
He added: “The ministry plans to offer these gas investment opportunities to specialized companies, and we have a visit to the United States soon for this purpose, as we plan to offer them to global American companies.”
He continued: “The ministry took the initiative to drill an exploratory well in Al-Anz block with a capacity of 1,000 cubic meters, and Halfaya gas investment project was also opened with a capacity of 300 cubic meters, and it is scheduled to launch the gas investment project in Al-Faiha oil field at the end of this year with a capacity of 125 cubic meters.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency