Amending the constitution will be in gradual phases, PM Advisor Says

 
Baghdad-INA
 
Advisor to the Prime Minister for Constitutional Affairs, Hassan Al-Yasiri, revealed on Tuesday, adopting new and different vision for amending the constitution, which included moving away from issues of political conflict.
 
“Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani adopted the draft amendment to the constitution that I presented to him, and now is an appropriate time for amendment after more than seventeen years since the adoption of the constitution, especially since the  iraqi awareness, whether at the political, parliamentary or citizens, has changed from that era in which the constitution was written, it included the adoption of many new opinions and ideas,” Al-Yasiri told The Iraqi News Agency-INA.
 
He pointed out that “the project to amend the constitution that we are adopting now differs from the previous two projects, as it includes a vision and methodology completely different from the previous one, based on multiple foundations, including, for example, moving away from the idea of completely amending the articles of the constitution from the first article until the last article (144), because total amendment means enacting a new constitution, which will lead to many political, parliamentary and public obstacles and disagreements, as happened in the two previous experiences.”
 
“There are critical and controversial issues, and amending them will inevitably generate political conflict, and the country will not tolerate adding a new problem to its existing problems, t is therefore logical to avoid them, ”he noted.
 
He also added "Our idea is that the amendment of the Constitution must be in accordance with the principle of gradual phases so that at the first stage - where we are now - the agreed texts should be amended by all, For example, article 76 on the commissioning of the largest parliamentary bloc in respect of which there is a difference in each parliamentary session as to what it means, Is it the winning bloc in the elections or the bloc that then consists in Parliament? and article 70 on the selection of the President of the Republic by a two-thirds majority, which received a serious disagreement in the last parliamentary elections; We should therefore explicitly define what these two texts are intended to interrupt conflict and difference, and so forth. as well as redrafting some of the provisions of the Constitution that require this, for example, regarding independent bodies and their distinction from non-Ministry-related bodies, as well as reviewing transitional justice institutions ".