Shafaq News- Baghdad

A group of Iraqi lawmakers submitted a formal request to
Parliament Speaker Haibet Al-Halbousi to place a proposal to freeze provincial
councils and their budgets for the current term on the agenda of the next
parliamentary session.

Reviving one of Iraq’s most contentious debates over
decentralization, signatories based their request, submitted Sunday, on Article
20/First of the Governorates Not Organized in a Region Law No. 21 of 2008 (as
amended), along with provisions addressing council accountability in cases of
serious breaches of duty or violations of the constitution and law, as well as
councils’ subjection to parliamentary oversight, according to a document seen
by Shafaq News.

The petition seeks to freeze provincial councils rather than
dissolve them, since their existence is protected by the constitution and
cannot be ended through this mechanism alone, MP Hamed al-Fatlawi told Shafaq
News, pointing to the previous suspension of councils after they exceeded their
electoral term.

Al-Fatlawi acknowledged that with roughly one year and two
months remaining in the current term, “freezing the councils now would raise
greater legal and political complications,” particularly since the sitting
councils resulted from direct elections. Amending the provincial councils’ law
to grant governors broader powers, freeing them from council-imposed
constraints, represents the better long-term solution, he said, though “the
current financial crisis and weak council performance are strengthening calls
for a freeze.”

“Budgets allocated for provincial development and
ministerial projects have not translated adequately into results on the
ground,” al-Fatlawi said, accusing councils of “enabling corruption and the
distribution and sale of quotas and positions, which affects public funds and
project implementation.”

He doesn’t expect passage to be easy, however, predicting
that Iraq’s ongoing financial crisis could eventually force reconsideration of
whether upcoming provincial council elections can even be held if sufficient
liquidity is unavailable.

Read more: Iraq’s Provincial Councils: Dysfunctional return deepens public disillusionment

This parliamentary push comes as Iraq’s government spending
faces severe strain: recent figures show monthly salary obligations at roughly
7.8 trillion dinars (approximately $5.95 billion), while the government needs
around 10.8 trillion dinars (approximately $8.24 billion) monthly to cover
total salaries and public expenditures.

MP Mohammed Khalil goes further than the freeze proposal,
arguing that abolishing provincial councils is both a popular demand and a
timely necessity. Councils have become a source of “legislative
disruption” within the administrative structure, he told Shafaq News,
consuming budget funds without achieving their intended purpose.

“Originally meant to deliver services to citizens, the
councils became an additional layer obstructing the executive branch and an
arena for political interests,” Khalil argued. He stressed that oversight tools
are no longer confined to local councils given the existence of the Board of
Supreme Audit, the Federal Commission of Integrity, and other regulatory
bodies, making him favor ending the councils outright rather than a temporary
freeze.

Citing the earlier experience of dissolving district
councils, Khalil said that eliminating provincial councils could similarly
remove “an excess layer from the administrative structure.”

Read more: Why Iraq’s provincial councils are struggling to deliver

Article 116 establishes that Iraq’s federal system consists
of a capital, regions, decentralized provinces, and local administrations,
while Article 122 grants provinces not organized into a region broad
administrative and financial powers under the principle of administrative
decentralization. The same article states that the election and powers of
provincial councils and governors are to be regulated by law, and that
provincial councils are not subject to the control of any ministry, operate
independently, and maintain their own finances.

In Babil, council member Hussein al-Dahmoushi argued that
councils, if functioning properly, can achieve their intended purpose. He
acknowledged to Shafaq News, however, that their current state resembles
“clinical death” due to political quota-sharing and violations of
laws, regulations, and instructions. “Freezing council operations may be
preferable if this situation persists,” al-Dahmoushi noted, provided their
powers and duties are transferred to a regulatory body under law to avoid
creating a gap in oversight and local administration.

Fellow Babil council member Mohammed al-Mansouri called the
closure of “quota-based” provincial councils an urgent national
necessity, describing them as having lost independent will and decisive
authority, merely carrying out what is dictated to them.

In Karbala, council member Mohammed al-Masoudi rejected the
parliamentary push altogether, arguing that collecting signatures to freeze
councils constitutes a constitutional violation, since the constitution and law
established their existence and legitimacy.

Karbala’s provincial council plays a genuine oversight role,
holding officials accountable and identifying citizens’ problems and solutions,
al-Masoudi told Shafaq News, suggesting some lawmakers’ motives may be
political. He noted that councils cost the state only limited sums compared to
the salaries, allowances, protection details and expenses of parliament members
and the three presidencies.

Provincial councils have not had a short history in Iraq.
The first were elected on January 30, 2005, during the transitional period,
before the 2005 constitution took full effect and before the Governorates Not
Organized in a Region Law No. 21 of 2008 was enacted. Elections followed on
January 31, 2009, after the permanent constitution and decentralization law
were in place, then again on April 20, 2013. Local elections were then
suspended for years until parliament halted council operations in 2019 amid the
October protest movement. Councils were re-elected on December 18, 2023, with
the new bodies beginning work in early 2024.

Read more: Iraq’s protests after Tishreen: A system that learned how to contain the street

Researchers and observers interviewed by Shafaq News argue
the provincial council crisis cannot be separated from Iraq’s broader
decentralization crisis. Councils were meant to serve as a pillar for
transferring decision-making and resources from Baghdad to the provinces, but
the experiment has faced years of problems involving powers, funding, and
overlap with federal ministries. Legislators attempted, particularly through
2013 amendments to the provincial councils law, to transfer service-related
powers from federal ministries to the provinces, but implementation faced major
difficulties due to conflicting authorities and weak coordination and funding.

Councils in many provinces instead became arenas for
political bargaining and quota-sharing, while local government formation
stalled for extended periods in some provinces due to political rivalries. This
problem resurfaced after the 2023 elections in several provinces, with local
government formation delayed by competition over positions and influence,
turning local elections into a barometer of central political balances more
than a genuine local contest over services and administration.

Political analyst Mujashaa al-Tamimi supports ending the
councils, arguing current calls deserve serious backing, particularly amid the
financial crisis. Provincial councils have, in many cases, shifted from a tool
for improving local administration into an additional layer of bureaucracy and
political bargaining, al-Tamimi told Shafaq News, pointing also to suspicions
of extortion, interference in provincial affairs, and waste of public funds.

In an interview with Shafaq News, Alaa Najah, another
political analyst, cautioned against reducing the issue to a matter of
spending, arguing that discussion of freezing provincial councils should not be
reduced to a cost-cutting measure or a fix for weak performance, since the
issue is tied to the broader concept of administrative centralization and the
relationship between central and local government. Elected councils should not
be abolished simply due to weak performance, he added, but should instead
undergo evaluation, accountability, auditing and reform.

If weak councils or members implicated in corruption are
identified, the appropriate response is opening investigations and holding
those responsible accountable, not resorting to abolition or suspension as a
first option, Najah said, while also declining to defend councils simply
because they are elected. He noted the reverse question is equally legitimate:
what have these councils delivered, what has been spent on them, what impact
have their decisions had, and what project delays have resulted from disputes
between councils and governors?

Najah suggested provincial councils may represent an
“excess layer” under the current model, particularly given the
existence of governors, state departments, and elected members of parliament
representing each province. The core problem, he concluded, lies not merely in
the councils’ existence but in how they operate, the scope of their powers, the
level of oversight and accountability applied to them, and the nature of
reforms needed within the local governance system.

Written and edited by Shafaq News staff.