ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s top court on Tuesday denied two requests calling for an “urgent” stoppage in the implementation of the decisions made during last week’s disputed Kirkuk provincial council session, saying that the requests do not suffice an urgent order.
One of the complaints was filed by Turkmen Front leader Hasan Turan and his fellow party member and provincial councilor Sawsan Abdulwahid, and the other by Rakan al-Jabouri, Kirkuk’s former acting governor and leader of the Arab Alliance.
No representatives of either party were present in the provincial council session on August 10, during which the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) Rebwar Taha was appointed as governor of Kirkuk and Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hafidh was selected as the council chief.
The parties called on the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court to issue “an urgent court order” to stop the implementation of the measures taken during the disputed session. The request is separate from the other lawsuits filed by the parties calling for annulling the session’s decisions on account of violating legal provisions.
The federal court rejected the requests, saying that issuing an urgent court order based on an independent request has not been mentioned in the provisions of the Federal Supreme Court Law, and therefore the requests do not have “the characteristic of urgency nor a necessity for issuing the order.”
The court added that making a decision on the requests means interfering and giving a “premature judgment” on the other complaints filed against the legitimacy of the decisions issued during the disputed council session.
Jabouri and the Turkmen Front have complained that the session violated the provisions of the Iraqi provincial elections law, which state that the council chief based on seniority must be notified and present at the meeting to elect the governor and the head of the council.
They also complain that excluding Turkmen council members from the meeting is also against the laws, and that there was no need to hold the session in Baghdad.
The absence of a clear majority after the December polls and disputes between the parties hindered the process of appointing the governor and forming the local administration for over seven months.
Because of Kirkuk’s status as a multi-ethnic, disputed province with a history of demographic change, the provincial council election law dictates that “power shall be distributed in a fair representation which guarantees the participation of the province’s components regardless of the results of the elections.”
