Lawsuit demanding Iraqi parliament's dissolution rejected

Baghdad, Sep 8 (IANS) The Iraqi federal court rejected a lawsuit filed by Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Sadrist Movement that demanded to dissolve Parliament for its failure to meet the constitutional deadlines to form a new government.

The Federal Supreme Court explained in a statement on Wednesday that the constitution defines its jurisdiction which does not include the dissolution of Parliament, reports Xinhua news agency.

However, "no authority may continue to bypass the constitutional periods indefinitely because this is a violation of the constitution and demolition of the entire political process", the statement noted.

Parliament must dissolve itself if it is deemed to have not fulfilled its duties in accordance with Article 64 of the constitution, it added.

In August, the Sadrist Movement filed a lawsuit to the federal court demanding the dissolution, citing that the constitutional periods of electing a new President and forming a new government had expired about 11 months after the parliamentary elections held on October 10 last year.

According to Article 64 of the constitution, Parliament can be dissolved in two ways: either it dissolves itself by an absolute majority of its 329 members at the request of a third of its members or the request of the Prime Minister with the approval of the President. 

Since the current Prime Minister is a caretaker in his post, he has no right to request the dissolution.

Political tensions in Iraq have escalated in the past weeks between al-Sadr and his rivals in the Shiite Coordination Framework, an umbrella group.

During the past months, the continued disputes among the Shia parties have hampered the formation of a new government, making Parliament unable to elect a new president by a two-thirds majority under the constitution.