Iraq's Parliament Speaker Pushes for Resolving Budget Disputes: No Vote Today Without an Agreement
Shafaq News/ Iraq's Parliament Speaker, Mohammad al-Halboosi, reportedly warned political parties at odds that their failure to reach an agreement over the budget bill would result in the vote's deferral.
Al-Halboosi, according to multiple sources, has urged heads and representatives of the political blocs to resolve the outstanding issues and arrive at an accord on disputed articles.
"Should the disagreements persist, the session slated for this evening will not convene and will be postponed to a later date," the sources added.
Yesterday, the Coordination Framework, a consortium of mainly Iran-backed Shiite political forces, convened a meeting in the parliament's headquarters in the presence of Speaker al-Halbousi himself, along with Hadi al-Amiri, the head of al-Fatah bloc, and Iraq's foreign minister, Fuad Hussein, and a slew of other prominent figures.
The meeting, according to Shafaq News Agency's correspondent, was held to discuss disputes over certain items of the budget bill, particularly those pertaining to the Kurdistan region's quota.
The lawmakers had voted on six articles of the triennial federal budget bill on Friday, but the session was adjourned as differences over Articles 13 and 14, among others, are yet to be resolved.
