Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament Rewaz Fayaq presides over a session on June 28, 2021 (NRT Digital Media/Screenshot)
2021-06-28
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SULAIMANI — The Kurdistan Parliament voted on Monday (June 28) to extend its Spring Session by another 30 days in order to wrap up unfinished business.
Sixty-five out of 111 lawmakers voted in favor of the extension.
The practice has been common during this term, though there are no pressing constitutional duties or large pieces of pending legislation at the moment which led to similar extensions in the past.
Some lawmakers, including those from the New Generation Movement, have pressed for Parliament to do more address public sector salary cuts during this session.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Council of Ministers had been expected to present a budget for the Kurdistan Region for the first time since 2013, but has so far failed to offer up any legislation for lawmakers to consider or divulge substantive details.
The current Parliament began meeting in February 2019, with that year’s Spring Session dominated by the extended government formation negotiations between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the Change Movement (Gorran).
Lawmakers extended the session so that Parliament could give time for then-KRG prime minister designate Masrour Barzani to name his cabinet and get it approved.
The 2019 Autumn Session was extended to give time for lawmakers to pass the Pension and Salary Reform Law in January 2020, portions of which have not yet been implemented.
The 2020 Spring Session was also extended to make up for disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and partisan tensions, which prevented sessions from taking place or scuttled them as they were already underway.
(NRT Digital Media)