Center expects the number of seats in the Iraqi parliament to increase to 430 seats in the next session
The Strategic Center for Human Rights in Iraq expected, on Thursday, an increase in the number of seats of the people’s representatives in the House of Representatives during the upcoming sessions after conducting the general population census for the year 2024. However, it suggested canceling the paragraph that every 100,000 people should have a representative to avoid this increase in the number of seats and not to burden the country’s general budget.
The Vice President of the Center, Lawyer Hazem Al-Radini, said in a statement today that: Article (49) of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq for the year 2005 stipulated that (the Federal Council of Representatives shall consist of a number of members at a rate of one representative for every one hundred thousand people of Iraq), and since the first elections for the Council of Representatives in its first session in 2005, the number of its members was 275 representatives, and in the second session it was 325 members, and in the third, fourth and fifth sessions that took place in 2021, 329 representatives were approved, and the excuse was the lack of a population census after 2003.
He added that the numbers have been confirmed and until a population census is conducted, the real number will be shown accurately, because all the data used previously is approximate, especially with regard to the distribution of the number of seats on the basis of each governorate and its share of 329 seats, indicating that there are governorates whose seats may increase and others may decrease as a result of the population movement that occurred between the governorates from 1996 to 2024, as there are security and economic circumstances.
Al-Radini continued by saying: After conducting the general population census, there will be two options for the House of Representatives. The first: amending the elections law by increasing the number of seats in the House of Representatives in its sixth session, which is expected to be no less than 430 representatives, and distributing them to 18 governorates, each according to its population according to the census.
He said: The second option is to work on amending Article (47) by cancelling the paragraph of one representative for every hundred thousand people and fixing the number at a maximum not exceeding (300) and submitting it to a referendum on the same day of the election of the next House of Representatives so that there are no financial costs that burden the state budget.
Shafaq.com