Speech of His Excellency the President of the Federal Supreme Court at the First Constitutional Judiciary Forum
“O David, We made you a ruler in the land, so judge between the people with justice, and do not follow desire, lest it diverts you from God’s path. Those who stray from God’s path will have a painful punishment, for having ignored the Day of Account.”
Almighty God has spoken truly
Dear brothers in attendance...
May Allah's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you!
The Republic of Iraq is one independent federal State, and its system of government is republican, representative, parliamentary and democratic, in accordance with Article 1 of the Constitution, and the democratic system in Iraq is based on the following foundations ((that the people are the source and legitimacy of powers, exercised by direct universal secret ballot and through their constitutional institutions, based on the provisions of Article (5) of the Constitution)) and on the principle of ((peaceful transfer of power, through the democratic means provided for in the Constitution, based on the provisions of Article (6) thereof)) and on the obligation to provide all guarantees that enable All citizens, men and women, have the right to participate in public affairs and enjoy political rights, including the right to vote, vote and be elected, in accordance with the provisions of Article 20 of the Constitution, and the democratic system in Iraq is also based on the freedom to establish associations and political parties, or joining it, and no one may be forced to join any party, association or political party, or forced to continue to be a member of it in accordance with the provisions of Article (39 / 1st and 2nd) of the Constitution, and it is not permissible to restrict the exercise of any of the rights and freedoms contained in the Constitution or determine them except by law or based on it, provided that such limitation and restriction does not affect the essence of the right or freedom based on the provisions of Article (46) of the Constitution, so the basis of the democratic process in Iraq is relying on the basis of achieving the principle of peaceful deliberation, and that this is achieved through the application of the principle of periodic elections, in a way that ensures the application of the democratic system in its correct form and not just legal texts in order to reach the democracy of the people and not the democracy of the ruling authority. Second, the aim of the principles contained in the constitution is to establish the basic rules for the way the state is organized and its government is formed, the fundamental rights to be implemented, the basic principles that guide and guide the electoral system, the rights of citizens to exercise democracy and the role of political parties and electoral authorities.
The electoral law is the basis for real parliamentary representation that expresses the spirit and values of the constitution in force, if the right means are available to achieve proper parliamentary representation, the political and legislative process will be advanced and successful, considering that the Council of Representatives, as the true representative of the will of the people and competent to legislate laws and monitor the performance of the executive authority, which is the womb from which the executive authority is born, must be a true expression of the will of the people, as well as must be taken into account when legislating any electoral law to the extent to which The constitutional requirement to represent the will of the people through that law.
Moreover, the electoral legal system is one of the most important elements of conducting the electoral process, as the aforementioned system includes the constitution, the electoral law, which includes the type of electoral system and laws related to elections, such as the laws of political parties, the law on the replacement of members, the law of the Independent High Electoral Commission and others, and that all of this must be for a basic, constitutional and national goal, which is to hold more fair, fair and more participatory elections, and then establish state institutions according to constitutional and legal frameworks.
The political system in Iraq is based on party pluralism based on the provisions of Article (39/1st) of the Constitution, which stipulates (the freedom to establish or join associations and political parties, guaranteed, and this is regulated by law), and this pluralism is mainly aimed at deepening democracy and establishing its foundations in a real way and not only theoretically, and this is within the framework of Article (20) of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq for the year 2005, which stipulates (citizens, men and women, have the right to participate in public affairs, and enjoy rights. Considering that the right to vote, vote and be elected as a fundamental entry point and basis for democracy, thus guaranteed by the Constitution to ensure the enjoyment of political rights by all and their participation in public affairs and the administration of the country, party pluralism carries with it an organization in which opinions contradict or agree, contradict or converge, but the national interest remains a framework for it and a criterion for its evaluation and a control for its activity, an interest that the people as a whole achieve, and therefore multiparty must not be a means adopted by the constitutional legislator to replace the control of one regime with another, especially since the Iraqi people have been under the domination of an individual tyrant for a long period of time that has had significant negative effects on the rights of the people and on the status of Iraq locally and internationally and on Building the state, so multiparty was the basis for building the system of government in Iraq from a constitutional point of view, considering that this pluralism is a strong way to national action through the democracy of dialogue, with which there are multiple opinions and vary, provided that the role played by political parties remains ultimately linked to the will of the electorate in its various groupings, a will that crystallizes it through its free selection of its representatives in the parliaments, and by the weight it gives with its votes to those competing for its seats, therefore, the goal pursued by these parties, in the light of their electoral programs, must be a noble national goal and an interest based on the supreme interest of the people and the homeland, aimed at achieving the principle of peaceful rotation of power, fair distribution of wealth, the principle of equal opportunities for all, and keeping the political and democratic process away from sectarian, national or political quotas, because the principle of democracy is based on the rule of the people themselves, away from domination and injustice of others, and away from infringing on the political, economic, social and cultural rights of the people, because the systems If democracy does not lead to the realization of the principle of peaceful rotation of power in a real way, it is the democracy of the ruling political system, not the democracy of the people.
At the same time, it is a democracy that digests the rights of the people, not a democracy of preserving those rights and delivering them to their rightful owners. Guaranteeing the right to vote, elect and be elected constitutionally requires the exercise of those rights by the people in all its sects and components without discrimination in the grounds for exercising those rights, and there is no preference for some citizens over others in any matter related to those rights to ensure that the national action remains collective and does not privilege some citizens over others. It is the source of powers and their legitimacy exercised by direct universal secret ballot and through its constitutional institutions in accordance with the provisions of Article (5) of the Constitution, this must lead to the fact that whoever administers the country, whether at the federal, regional or provincial levels, or with regard to the governorates that are not organized in a region, represents the sovereignty of the entire Iraqi people in terms of the Council of Representatives and the popular sovereignty of the people of the region or the people of the provinces that are not organized in a region, and leads to the elimination of the control of one group over others, and in all this lies the value of multiparty as a constitutional envisage towards deepening the concept of democracy, which does not give political parties a role in the work. The national goes beyond the limits of the confidence that the electorate places on its candidates who compete with others on objective grounds that are not limited by doctrine of any kind.
Considering that the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq represents the soul of the people, so everyone must be faithful to its implementation, as it embodies the dreams and hopes of the people, and its purpose must be to build a democratic, federal, parliamentary system in which the good of the people is achieved, and its principles must not be deaf rules like puppets tossed by the wind for the benefit of a particular party or a specific person, and sectarian or political quotas or political inheritance should not be a reason for wasting all those constitutional values, as the principles of the Constitution must be A source that pumps goodness and justice to the Iraqi people and is represented in the blood of the martyrs and the children and the tear of the oppressed and the poor and the lack of parents for money to treat their children or fill the hunger of their children and we must realize that in our hands the trust of God, entrusted to God Almighty, the purpose of which is to give pride and dignity to the human being who was honored by God Almighty over all other creatures, and to embody all the values of justice as the main guide for global human ethics, and that the stability of the state is done by establishing the laws of justice, and with justice the parish is reformed, and that the best servants of God with God are a fair imam, and that creation is the children of God and the most beloved people to God, have compassion for His family.
It is a great honor for us to be in this great national historical edifice represented by the College of Law at the University of Baghdad and we thank all those in charge of this forum (the Iraqi constitutional judiciary) and wish it success in all its aspects and peace, mercy and blessings of God.
Judge
Jassim Mohammed Abboud
President of the Federal Supreme Court
