Political pacts shield absent Iraqi MPs from fines

Shafaq News – Baghdad

Rules meant to punish absent Iraqi lawmakers are largely ignored, as political deals shield MPs from salary cuts and potential expulsion, the Parliamentary Legal Committee confirmed on Saturday.

Mohammed Anouz, a member of the Legal Committee, highlighted to Shafaq News that under the internal rules, 1.5 million Iraqi dinars ($1,020) should be deducted from the salary of each absent lawmaker, with their names made public. The rules also provide for the expulsion of any lawmaker who misses five consecutive sessions without a legitimate excuse.

In 2024, parliament introduced a mechanism to deduct 1 million dinars ($680) per missed session, plus 500,000 dinars ($340) for parliamentary committees. However, implementation has stalled.

Earlier, the Reconstruction and Development Coalition, led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, highlighted roughly 80 “phantom” lawmakers who have been absent from all sessions since the start of the current (fifth) parliamentary term, without official photos or biographies in parliament.

These absences have contributed to session delays, creating major obstacles to the functioning of Iraq’s parliament, which frequently fails to reach a legal quorum when discussing laws described as “critical.”

Read more: A Lost Term: Iraq’s weakest parliament since 2003