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Constitutional framework

From 1968 to 2003 Iraq was ruled by the Baath (Arabic: Renaissance) Party. Under a provisional constitution adopted by the party in 1970, Iraq was confirmed as a republic, with legislative power theoretically vested in an elected legislature but also in the party-run Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), without whose approval no law could be promulgated. Executive power rested with the president, who also served as the chairman of the RCC, supervised the cabinet ministers, and ostensibly reported to the RCC. Judicial power was also, in theory, vested in an independent judiciary. The political system, however, operated with little reference to constitutional provisions, and from 1979 to 2003 Pres. Saddam Hussein wielded virtually unlimited power.

Following the overthrow of the Baath government in 2003, the United States and its coalition allies established the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), headed by a senior American diplomat. In July the CPA appointed the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), which assumed limited governing functions. The IGC approved an interim constitution in March 2004, and a permanent constitution was approved by a national plebiscite in October 2005. This document established Iraq as a federal state in which limited authorityover matters such as defense, foreign affairs, and customs regulationswas vested in the national government. A variety of issues (e.g., general planning, education, and health care) are shared competencies, and other issues are treated at the discretion of the district and regional constituencies.

The constitution is in many ways the framework for a fairly typical parliamentary democracy. The president is the head of state, the prime minister is the head of government, and the constitution provides for two deliberative bodies, the Council of Representatives (Majlis al-Nawwb) and the Council of Union (Majlis al-Ittid). The judiciary is free and independent of the executive and the legislature.

The president, who is nominated by the Council of Representatives and who is limited to two four-year terms, holds what is largely a ceremonial position. The head of state presides over state ceremonies, receives ambassadors, endorses treaties and laws, and awards medals and honours. The president also calls upon the leading party in legislative elections to form a government (the executive), which consists of the prime minister and the cabinet and which, in turn, must seek the approval of the Council of Representatives to assume power. The executive is responsible for setting policy and for the day-to-day running of the government. The executive also may propose legislation to the Council of Representatives.

The Council of Representatives does not have a set number of seats but is based on a formula of one representative for every 100,000 citizens. Ministers serve four-year terms and sit in session for eight months per year. The councils functions include enacting federal laws, monitoring the performance of the prime minister and the president, ratifying foreign treaties, and approving appointments; in addition, it has the authority to declare war.

The constitution is very brief on the issue of the Council of Union, the structure, duties, and powers of which apparently will be left to later legislation. The constitution only notes that this body will include representatives of the regions and governorates, suggesting that it will likely take the form of an upper house.

Iraq is divided for administrative purposes into 18 mufat (governorates), 3 of which constitute the autonomous Kurdistan Region. Each governorate has a governor, or mufi, appointed by the president. The governorates are divided into 91 aqiyyah (districts), headed by district officers, and each district is divided into niyt (tracts), headed by directors. Altogether, there are 141 tracts in Iraq. Towns and cities have their own municipal councils, each of which is directed by a mayor. Baghdad has special status and its own governor. The Kurdish Autonomous Region was formed by government decree in 1974, but in reality it attained autonomy only with the help of coalition forces following the Persian Gulf War. It is governed by an elected 50-member legislative council. The Kurdistan Region was ratified under the 2005 constitution, which also authorizes the establishment of future regions in other parts of Iraq as part of a federal state.

The Baath Party was a self-styled socialist and Arab nationalist party once connected with the ruling Baath Party in Syria, although the two parties were often at odds. After the Baath Party came to power, Iraq became effectively a one-party state, with all governing institutions nominally espousing the Baath ideology. In 1973 the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) agreed to join a Baath-dominated National Progressive Front, and in 1974 a group of Kurdish political parties, including the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), joined. In 1979, after the ICP had suffered serious disagreements with the Baath leadership and a bloody purge, it left the Front, and it was subsequently outlawed by the government. In addition to the ICP, several other opposition parties were outlawed by the Baath. The best known among them are the KDP, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and two Shii religious parties: the Islamic Dawah Party and the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (known since 2007 as the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq). Another group, the Iraqi National Congress, received strong, albeit intermittent, support from the U.S. government during the 1990s. All operated outside Iraq or in areas of the country not under government control.

Following the Persian Gulf War, the KDP and the PUK, although often at odds with one another, operated in the Kurdish Autonomous Region with relative freedom and remained largely unhindered by the government. In the rest of Iraq, however, isolation and the UN embargo further consolidated power in the hands of the government. Following the overthrow of the Baathists in 2003, a number of small political parties arose, and the major expatriate parties resumed operations domestically. The Sadrist Movement, led by Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shii cleric strongly opposed to the presence of foreign troops in Iraq, emerged as another powerful Shii party.

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Iraq - Government and society | Britannica