Maliki's Broadened Powers Seen as a Threat in Iraq
Share with others:
BAGHDAD -- As protesters throughout the Arab world challenge their authoritarian leaders, Iraqis, government officials and regional experts see increasing signs that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is expanding his power, undermining the fragile democracy struggling to take hold here.
A ruling in January by Iraq's highest court -- sought by Mr. Maliki -- gave him control of once independent agencies responsible for running the country's central bank, conducting elections and investigating corruption.
A month after that ruling, two leading human rights groups said that forces that reported directly to Mr. Maliki, in violation of the country's Constitution, were running secret jails where detainees had been tortured.
And in July, Iraq's high court ruled that members of Parliament no longer had the power to propose legislation. Instead, all new laws would have to be proposed by Mr. Maliki's cabinet or the president and then passed to the Parliament for a vote.
Political experts said they knew of no other parliamentary democracy that had such restrictions.
With influence from the United States waning as the military prepares to withdraw at the end of the year, Mr. Maliki's critics say that one legacy of the eight-year American occupation is a democratically elected leader from the country's Shiite majority who has far more power than the Constitution intended.
Critics said that the court ruling in January was a particularly damaging blow to the country's voting process and feeble economy. Sean Kane, the program officer for Iraq at the United States Institute of Peace, a Congressionally financed research center, said that the decision appeared to contradict Iraq's Constitution, which he said stated that the commissions had varying levels of responsibility to Parliament.
Referring to the recent court ruling, Aliya Nasaif, a lawmaker from the Iraqiya coalition, a rival to Mr. Maliki's State of Law bloc, said: "Because there is no law, you will find him overwhelming other institutions. This is the beginning of dictatorship. We are regressing by centuries."
Mr. Maliki has tried to respond to public discontent by giving his cabinet 100 days to come up with ways to improve services. He has also promised to cut his pay and not seek a third term in 2014.
An official for the United States Embassy said that Mr. Maliki and his advisers were trying to signal that they understood the outrage of Iraqis over corruption and poverty.
First Published March 5, 2011 12:01 am
