Parliamentarian blocs agreed on controversial laws-UIC member
Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Tuesday , 12 /02 /2008 Time 7:23:55
Baghdad, Feb 12, (VOI) - A leading member of the Shiite United Iraqi Coalition (UIC) on Tuesday said the parliamentarian blocs agreed on the calendar year 2008 budget, the bill of areas not classified within provinces, and the amnesty law that were postponed several times earlier.
“The fiscal budget for the calendar year 2008 has been agreed upon, as have the bill on areas not classified within provinces and amnesty laws,” Sami al-Askari, UIC member, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).
He added “the parliament speaker delayed the session until 6 pm (3 GMT) to ensure that they have the final copies of the laws printed.”
UIC, the largest Parliamentarian bloc, holds 83 out of 275 seats.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani had said in a press conference on Tuesday that all blocks took part in the transaction; the UIC, the Kurds participated by keeping 17% share of the federal budget, the UIC through the bill on areas not classified within provinces, and the IAF through the amnesty law.
Earlier, a member of parliament from the Shiite Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC) Tuesday’s Parliamentary session was delayed for half an hour in order to reach an agreement on the percentage of appropriations for the Kurdistan region from the 2008 federal budget.
Kurds insist on having 17% of the country's budget to the objection of legislators of the UIC, the Sunni Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), which holds 35 seats, and former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's National Iraqi Movement (22 seats).
UIC called to approve the bill on areas not classified within provinces with the 2008 budget law claiming they were several common items between the budget appropriations and provinces that necessitated having the two laws together
The Sunni IAF insisted on having the amnesty law finalized, citing pressure from their people to release scores of un-convicted detainees.
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