Peregraf
The Kurdish, Sunni, and Shiite factions of the Iraqi Parliament have reached an agreement to hold a parliamentary session tomorrow, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, though the official agenda has yet to be published. The Kurdish factions have declared they will not participate in the session unless it includes a voting clause on establishing Halabja as a separate province.
A source within the Kurdish factions stated to Peregraf: "As the Kurdish factions, we have reached an agreement with the Shiite and Sunni blocs as well as the parliamentary presidency to hold the parliamentary session on Tuesday, April 8, 2025. However, the session's agenda has not yet been published."
The source further clarified: "We have agreed that the session must include a voting clause on the bill to establish Halabja as a province. Additionally, the agenda must not contain any legislation proposed by the Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Shaabi), and the Halabja issue must not be linked with any other proposed legislation."
The source emphasized: "There are no guarantees the session will actually take place, but under all circumstances, the Kurdish factions have decided they will not participate in any Iraqi parliamentary session unless the bill to establish Halabja as a province is included in the agenda."
The parliament had previously scheduled a vote on the Halabja province bill during its March 25, 2025 evening session. However, the majority of Shiite and Sunni factions, including:
The Taqaddum Party (led by al-Halbousi)
The State of Law Coalition (led by Nouri al-Maliki)
The Hikma Movement (led by Ammar al-Hakim)
The al-Fateh Alliance (led by Hadi al-Amiri)
failed to attend the session and did not participate in voting on the bill. While the session was postponed to the following evening with the addition of a second reading for legislation proposed by the Hashd al-Shaabi, the session ultimately failed to convene.
Following the collapse of the March 25 session, Soran Omar, a member of the Iraqi Parliament, stated: "The majority of Shiite and Sunni parliamentarians and factions - including the Taqaddum Party, the State of Law Coalition, the blocs of Ammar al-Hakim and Hadi al-Amiri - did not attend the session. Therefore, the legal quorum for conducting the session was not met, and it was postponed."
Omar added: "All their statements and visits regarding the Kurdistan Region, where they claim to be friends of the Kurds, are untrue. They are not honest about their promises, as they have pledged dozens of times to vote for the bill to establish Halabja as a province, but when it comes time to act, they fail to follow through."
The ongoing dispute over granting Halabja provincial status probably continues to strain relations between Baghdad and the Kurdish political parties. The Kurdish blocs maintain that establishing Halabja as Iraq's 19th province represents both symbolic recognition of the city's tragic history and practical administrative improvements for its residents.
With the agenda for tomorrow's session still unpublished, political observers note the potential for further parliamentary deadlock if Kurdish factions follow through on their boycott threat.