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State of Law commits to strict attendance in next parliament |
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Candidates representing the State of Law Coalition including Islamic Dawa Party members have taken an oath to commit to strict attendance in the next parliament, should they be elected.
The senior State of Law candidate, Abbas Al-Bayati, explained that many Iraqis felt that that the current parliament lacks a sense of responsibility in light of the consistently poor attendance by a significant number of its members.
The fact that more than 105 parliamentarians have been absent on a |
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regular basis over the past four years, resulting in parliament’s repeated failure to reach quorum, has led to the stalling of several important pieces of legislation.
Al-Bayati added that the poor attendance signified a lack of responsibility by many individuals and their parliamentary blocs, as well as weak mechanisms in holding parliamentarians to account. He noted that the financial penalties for poor attendance were ineffective and that the solution was for the electorate to choose trusted candidates under the open list system who would take their roles seriously.
Al-Bayati also highlighted the State of Law Coalition’s pledge to cut salaries for members of the Council of Representatives by fifty percent, in addition to reducing the salaries of senior government officials and members of the Presidency Council.
The Islamic Dawa Party calls on all Iraq’s political blocs to follow suit by ensuring that their candidates are fully committed to carrying out their duties as responsible and effective members of the next parliament. The challenge of engaging ordinary Iraqis in the democratic process relies primarily on building trust and confidence between parliamentarians and their constituents.
21 February 2010
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