The provincial council is at the parliamentary table, 120 deputies pushing for freezing amid a financial crisis and constitutional unrest

The governor's councils file has returned to the front again, after deputies moved to collect signatures with the aim of including a proposal to freeze the work of the governor's councils and their budgets for the current session on the Council of Representatives agenda, before voting on it.

According to MP statements, the number of signatures in support of the proposal exceeded 120 signatures, as the move comes in conjunction with the financial pressures facing the Iraq government, and criticism has been mounting about the performance of the governorates' councils, which returned to work in early 2024 after a four-year hiatus.

MP Hamid Fatlaoui said the move was aimed at freezing the councils, not dissolving them, explaining that their existence was based on the constitution, and that their final abolition required a constitutional and legal path.

In contrast, MP Mahma Khalil considers that the termination of the governor's councils has become necessary, considering that they have become an additional loop in the administrative structure and have not achieved the service objectives for which they were created.

The proposal comes amid parliamentary calls to rationalize government spending and cut spending, amid a financial crisis and pressure on public revenues, with pro-freezing supporters believing that suspending councils and their budgets could contribute to spending cuts.

The proposal, in turn, faces a constitutional controversy, as the IraqI constitution provides for a decentralized system and grants unregulated governorates the territory of administrative and financial powers, as well as regulates the election of governorates and their powers.