Federal government of Iraq

The federal government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution, approved in 2005, as an Islamic,democratic, federal parliamentary republic. The federal government is composed of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as well as numerous independent commissions.

Federalism in Iraq

Federalism Law

Article 114 of the Constitution of Iraq provided that no new region may be created before the Iraqi National Assembly has passed a law which provides the procedures for forming the region. A law was passed in October 2006 after an agreement was reached with the Iraqi Accord Front to form the constitutional review committee and to defer implementation of the law for 18 months. Legislators from the Iraqi Accord Front, Sadrist Movement and Islamic Virtue Party all opposed the bill.

Creating a new region

Under the Federalism Law a region can be created out of one or more existing governorates or two or more existing regions. A governorate can also join an existing region to create a new region. There is no limit to the number of governorates that can form a region, unlike the Transitional Administrative Law of the Iraqi Interim Government which limited it to three.

Politics of Iraq

The politics of Iraq place in a framework of a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic. It is a multi-party system whereby the executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers as the head of government, as well as the President of Iraq, and legislative power is vested in the Council of Representatives and the Federation Council.

The current Prime Minister of Iraq is Haider al-Abadi, who holds most of the executive authority and appointed the Council of Ministers, which acts as a cabinet and/or government.

History

Before the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the Ba'ath Party officially ruled. Iraq was occupied by foreign troops beginning with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with military forces coming primarily from the United States and the United Kingdom. Most foreign militaries operated under the umbrella of the Multinational force in Iraq (the MNF–I), authorized under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1546, 1637, 1723, and 1790 until December 31, 2008. On January 1, 2009 the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement entered into force.