VZCZCXRO4601
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0476 0430950
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 120950Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9577
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 000476 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EFIN IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQI COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES BEGINS RECESS 
 
REF: BAGHDAD 441 
 
¶1.  (U) The first full legislative cycle of the Iraqi Council 
of Representatives (CoR), which began with an inaugural 
session on March 16, 2006, ended with the somewhat delayed 
passage of the 2007 budget on February 8 (reftel).  The CoR 
now begins a recess expected to last through early March. 
 
¶2.  (U) The constitution (Article 57) and CoR bylaws (Article 
22) call for one "annual legislative period," spanning eight 
months and broken into two sessions.  (CoR bylaws put the 
first session as March 1 - June 30 and the second as 
September 1 - December 31).  Both constitution and bylaws 
also declare that the session "in which the general budget is 
presented shall not end until after approval of the budget." 
Last year's session only closed on February 8 following the 
approval of the budget.  The CoR is on recess until March 1 
according to CoR bylaws, but no specific date was set at the 
end of the recent session.  Note:  The long extension of a 
session which might have ended in December was largely due to 
a Sadrist boycott, with only one (of 17) sessions between 
November 28 and January 21 gathering an absolute majority 
(138 of 275 members) to constitute a quorum.  End note. 
 
¶3.  (U) Article 58 of the constitution permits extensions of 
a CoR session for 30 days to complete the tasks for which the 
extension is required.  The session just ended was most 
recently extended January 23, when the Speaker called for a 
vote to extend through February 10 for purposes of completing 
the budget, passing a State of Emergency extension, and 
completing the election law.  All of the laws that served as 
the basis for the extension (and a number of others) have 
been passed.  Since the legislative session could not end 
until after the budget was passed, it is questionable whether 
an extension on January 23 was constitutionally required. 
Following the passage of the budget, a new extension would 
have been required for the CoR to remain in session. 
 
¶4.  (U) An extraordinary session can also be called as needed 
to deal with specific urgent matters -- and would be limited 
to addressing "the topics that necessitated" the 
extraordinary session (Article 58 of the constitution). 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The expectation is that the CoR will return in 
early March, having lost little momentum in terms of actual 
progress on key legislation.  The Constitutional Review 
Committee leadership is traveling on a UN program in any 
event and will not be here in late February.  We understand 
that many other CoR members also intend to travel during the 
period of the recess.  Even a call for an extraordinary 
session would not likely assemble the needed CoR leadership 
to conduct meaningful business.  Expected priorities in the 
new session are reconciliation efforts, the Hydrocarbon Law, 
de-Ba'athification, constitutional reform, and progress 
towards provincial elections. 
SPECKHARD