A commentator on Cole's blog points out that there is a provision in the constitution for replacing MPs. The faction from which the MP comes simply appoints the missing MP. Of course I suppose Maliki could try and act fast and push the oil bill through before appointments were made but I expect it is more likely after all this and the cabinet shuffle his government would disintegrate anyway. I think that Maliki's days are numbered even with US backing- or maybe because of it.
Cheers, Ken Hanly --- Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >Parliamentarians from the Sadr Bloc vowed that they > would resist > Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's plans to dismiss 5 > out of 6 cabinet > ministers from their party. The Sadrists have 32 > seats in the Iraqi > legislature, and their support was key to the > election of al-Maliki > last spring. > > KarbalaNews.net reports in Arabic that al-Maliki > gave an interview in > which he said that high judicial authorities are > preparing indictments > against members of parliament for involvement in > militia and death > squad activity. Maybe al-Maliki thinks he does not > need the Sadrist > MPs because so many of them will soon be in prison. > > Indeed, the scale of the indictments against sitting > Iraqi > representatives and officials hinted at by al-Maliki > suggests a > judicial coup. > > Given that Sunni and Sadrist MPs have been loudest > in denouncing the > new oil law, if large numbers of them were > incarcerated, it would also > make it easier for al-Maliki to get the legislation > enacted. > > There are no mechanisms for by-elections to the > Iraqi parliament to my > knowledge, so that the parliamentarians that are > arrested will likely > not be replaced until late 2009. The arrests could > dramatically alter > the relative proportion of representatives of > various communities. No > Kurds will be arrested, since their Peshmerga > militia has been > legalized, so their bloc will be strengthened.< > > > -- > Jim Devine / "The truth is more important than the > facts." -- Frank Lloyd Wright > Blog: http://kenthink7.blogspot.com/index.html
