May 12th, Iraq held elections. There's still no government. There was hope that today would bring a new government. That didn't happen.
#Iraq’s parliament holds its first session since May #elections but failed to elect a speaker as the two main rival blocs both insisted they had the largest number of seats to form a coalition #government.
https://bit.ly/2MKFk0l
Pictured above is Moqtada al-Sadr (Shi'ite cleric and movement leader) and Hadi al-Ameri (head of the militias). Moqtada has teamed with prime minister Hayder al-Abadi and Hadi has teamed with former prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki.
Some experts -- or 'experts' -- are weighing in.
- #Iraq’s Parliament fails to run the first session smoothly for the third time (2010, 2014 & 2018). Problem is the lack of clarity on who the “largest” block is. This thread will explain the issues for unfamiliar observers. (1)
Iraq’s Constitution states that the President designated the PM candidate from the largest bloc. In 2010, the dispute about the definition of the large bloc was settled by the Federal Court as the bloc that is formed after the elections, not the largest election’s winner. (2)
- #pt. One bloc, led by VP al-Maliki, with individual signatures & another, led by PM Abadi, with signatures of bloc leaders. This created double counting of seats, because Abadi’s bloc leaders signed on behalf of MPs-elect who signed with Maliki. (6)
- #pt. If the Supreme Federal Court answers “yes” to Question (a), Abadi’s coalition will be the largest bloc. If the Court answers “yes” to Question (b), Maliki’s coalition will win — a “yes” to one question is automatic “no” to the other. (8)
- The way this is going can be a Supreme Court arbitrary ruling that is accepted by both sides, or a settlement inside the Parliament if one side rejects the ruling. The Supreme Court can declare no jurisdiction, as @FIstrabadi suggests. (11)
Seriously? That's an informed opinion? An educated one?
#Iraq parliament finds itself in total shambles this AM because the election results were manipulated in 2010 through legal interpretations to give Maliki the right to form a government when his party came 2nd in national elections. This is the root of the problem.
Here in the US, it's a holiday. Can I not have one f**king day off in 14 years? Is that too much to ask for?
Clearly, I can't because here are two 'experts' offering bulls**t.
Does anyone not know what I'm talking about?
Nouri owned the court. He got that verdict and put it in his pocket. When he came in second in the March 2010 elections, he immediately pulled that veredict out and a lot of people called it out.
But, here's the thing, it didn't matter.
The verdict had no f**king weight. Are we all stupid all the sudden?
He pulled that verdict out weeks after the March 2010 elections.
And?
The government was finally formed in November.
The verdict didn't help Nouri. The verdict wasn't implemented and did not lead to the formation of a government.
Every damn day I have to write about Iraq and, on Saturday, I was whining about this to a friend. She said, "Walk away, you've done your part." I said, "I can't walk away. I spend most of my time correcting the so-called experts."
The Erbil Agreement, you so-called experts, is what settled the 2010 election. Stop pretending otherwise. Some of us paid attention and some of us have memories.
Remember all this, 'experts'? Or are you that stupid?
November 10, 2010, The Erbil Agreement is signed. November 11, 2010, the Iraqi Parliament has their first real session in over eight months and finally declares a president, a Speaker of Parliament and Nouri as prime minister-designate -- all the things that were supposed to happen in April of 2010 but didn't.
They're lying yet again. They're claiming that stupid verdict -- that no one took seriously in 2010 and that had no effect on the 2010 elections -- is somehow responsible for something.
Why can't I walk away? Because 'experts' are full of it -- whether that's gas or lies, they're full of it. And as they rush to weigh in with their ahistorical and fictitous explosion of words, they distort reality and mislead the world.
THIRD has new content up, I'll note it in tomorrow's snapshot. In the meantime:
