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| Authors: | Esther Pan Sharon Otterman |
|---|
April 7, 2005
On April 6, the 275 members of the transitional National Assembly elected the nation's new president, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, and two vice presidents, Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shiite, and interim President Ghazi al-Yawar, a Sunni Arab. On April 7, these three leaders--known as the Presidency Council--named Shiite leader Ibrahim al-Jaafari as prime minister. Jaafari will now recommend a cabinet, which must be approved by a simple majority vote of the assembly.
Jaafari said April 7 that he expected to name a cabinet "within two weeks." Under the rules of Iraq's interim constitution, known as the Transitional Administrative Law, Jaafari has one month to select the nation's ministers. The process is widely expected to go more quickly now that the political logjam that delayed the government's creation since the January 30 elections has been broken.
Iraq's transitional government is a parliamentary democracy with a legislature, executive branch, and independent judiciary. In the executive branch, the prime minister is the person who "exercises almost all the real power," says Noah Feldman, associate professor of law at New York University and a former constitutional adviser to the Iraqi government. The Presidency Council has some important executive powers--it can veto legislation passed by the National Assembly, and appoint the Supreme Court and other judges. Even so, the presidency remains "primarily symbolic--much more like a chairman of the board than a CEO [chief executive officer]," Feldman says.
The transitional government will run the country and its ministries and write a permanent constitution. The deadline for the new constitution is August 15, but a six-month extension is possible--and, some experts say, likely--given the delay in forming the new government. A public referendum must be held on the constitution two months after the draft is completed. If all goes according to schedule and no extensions are granted, a national vote for a permanent government will take place by December 31, 2005.
--by Sharon Otterman, associate director, cfr.org and Esther Pan, staff writer, cfr.org
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