Shafaq News / The Court's decision to repeal the emergency bill on food security and development, an alternative to the budget law, heralds a significant change in the political climate of an already-troubled-Iraq, prompting the Iraqi government to presage risks by launching a series of caveats.

Political analysts and legal and economic experts in Iraq agreed that any delay in drafting laws affecting the people would directly affect citizens.

The Federal Court rejected the decision because it was submitted to Parliament by the current caretaker government, led by Mustafa al-Kadhimi, after political dialogues to form a new government had failed for more than seven months.

The interpretation the Federal Court adopted for the concept of "day-to-day conduct" stipulated in Articles 61 and 64 of the Iraqi Constitution does not grant al-Kadhimi's government the power of deferring bills to Parliament for legislation.

"This applies to the Emergency Support for Food Security and Development Act, a binding decision per article 94 of the Constitution, despite the necessity and importance of this bill and its connection to economic security, which is part of national security, and a priority of the caretaker government," legal expert Ali al-Tamimi told Shafaq News agency.

According to al-Tamimi, articles 5, 6, and 59 of the Constitution enable the Parliament to authorize the caretaker government to submit the emergency support bill or financial support by a majority vote (half of its members +one), "since a vote from Parliament is equivalent to a law that is that is superior to the Parliament's Internal Law that prevents a caretaker government from deferring bills."

The Court's decision prompted al-Kadhimi to provide clarifications, saying that "introducing the Emergency Support for Food Security and Development bill was urgent to address the economic challenges posed by the global price hike crisis, as well as to provide urgent support to the electricity sector before the summer, to prevent any power production crisis or power outages across Iraq."

The Iraqi Ministry of Finance, on the other hand, has raised its warnings to a new level, stating that the Federal Court's decision will affect the cost of oil extraction, as well as the restoration of grain reserves.

Furthermore, Ihsan al-Shammari, head of the Center for Political Thinking, said that the Federal Court's decision on the food security bill could motivate political forces to speed up agreement on the nomination of a president and the formation of a new full-fledged government.

"All political forces will bear the consequences of what will happen due to the failure to pass the federal budget bill."

The Emergency Support Bill for Food Security and Development was used as a political pressure card among different forces to form a government. While the Sadrist movement, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (K.D.P.), and al-Siyada coalition supported the bill, the Coordination Framework and its allies opposed it.

Nouri al-Maliki, head of the State of Law Coalition, one of the main opposition parties, proposed disbursing "imprests" to cover basic food insurance expenses rather than passing the Emergency Food Security Support Act, which he had previously warned about as a constitutional violation.

"In years when governments are unable to present the country's annual budget, or their approval is disrupted in parliament, they have resorted to the principle of imprests from the Ministry of Finance to cover the expenses of securing basic food, no matter how expensive they may be," said al-Maliki, a former PM of two sessions.

Hassan al-Athari, head of the Sadrist bloc in the Iraqi Parliament, pledged in a tweet to work on "all legal and legislative ways to ensure and defend the interests and livelihoods of the people."

Mustafa Sanad, a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, said there was no way out of the law, given that the Federal Court had informed the legislature that it was not permissible to propose and send bills, particularly those with a financial side.

"As the Food Security Act has been challenged, the budget law will be challenged as well, so parliament has no solution, except with a full-fledged government, to send the laws."

"There is a lot of pressure to solve the problem of political impasse, and the suspension of legislation will push the political forces towards resolving the crisis in the country," he said.

For his part, political analyst Manaf al-Musawi predicted that citizens will go out with large demonstrations due to the major economic consequences that will harm them, as a result of the delay in the approval of the federal budget for 2022, and the inability to pass the Emergency Support Law for Food Security and Development.

"The repealed bill was an attempt to find a way out of an economic problem among a range of crises that the country is experiencing, including the lack of a strategic treasury for wheat and basic foodstuffs, as well as the economic crisis that has cast a shadow over the Iraqi and international levels," al-Musawi told Shafaq News agency.

"The Federal Court's intervention in this manner, amid great pressures on both Parliament and the government, may have negative consequences, most notably large-scale demonstrations. The aforementioned demonstrations may increase tension and pressure, making it difficult to deal with them (the demonstrators). The Federal Court may not find the necessary solutions if the situation worsens."

Amid those events, Sadrist leader Muqtada al-Sadr announced his opposition, after political parties, including his bloc, failed to form the Iraqi government months after the country's legislative elections.