BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has won a court ruling placing independent bodies like the central bank and the electoral agency under the cabinet, a centralisation of power that critics are calling a “coup”.
Maliki’s government made the request to the supreme court in December before he was reappointed later that month to a second term, and the court ruling in his favour came through last Tuesday, generating little controversy at first.
The independent agencies affected are supposed to be monitored by parliament according to the constitution, hastily drawn up in the chaotic aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Maliki argued that where the language describing parliament’s monitoring powers over the agencies was ambiguous, the bodies should be attached to the cabinet. The court agreed.
The main agencies affected are the Central Bank of Iraq, the Independent Higher Electoral Commission, anti-corruption watchdog the Integrity Commission and the High Commission for Human Rights.
