Former Minister of Communications and current Deputy Hiyam Al-Yasiri proposed on Monday a change in Iraq's political system from parliamentary to semi-presidential, calling on political forces to expedite this change. She revealed that she has prepared a draft and studies in collaboration with constitutional experts.
Al-Yasiri, during a televised interview followed by "Video News Agency," stated, "Politicians must hasten to change the political system in Iraq and themselves," considering that the parliament has turned into a arena for power-sharing, which constrains the Prime Minister and limits his ability to govern.
She added that the Chairman of the Popular Mobilization Forces, Falih Al-Fayyadh, supported the idea of changing the system, stating, "He said we hope the situation in Iraq changes and we support the idea you proposed."
Al-Yasiri explained that the studies she prepared in collaboration with constitutional experts aim to transition to a semi-presidential system where the people directly elect the President, granting him broad powers while maintaining the parliament.
She mentioned that "the presidential system creates a dictator, but the semi-presidential system ensures the existence of a parliament, while granting the president absolute authority and being directly elected by the people," indicating that the proposal includes that the president has "supremacy over the parliament" for a specified period that is non-renewable.
Al-Yasiri criticized the nature of power distribution in the current system, saying that the position of the President has become "symbolic," while she described the Prime Minister as "bound," due to what she considers imposition of deputies on him and interference in choosing his ministers.
She affirmed that the draft for change still requires a lot of work, as it is proposed as one of the options for reorganizing the form of the political system and distributing powers among state institutions.