Iraq's incomplete federal structure tests new government, analyst warns

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's federal state structure has been under construction since the 2005 Constitution was adopted, but years later many of the regulatory laws it envisages have still not been enacted, according to a local analyst. The federal framework governs administrative and fiscal powers not only between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region but also among regions, cities, districts and sub-districts. Writing on the constitutional record, the analyst argued that citizens form the foundation of the federal project and that every tier of government must exercise its constitutional authority independently. Possession of its own judiciary is what sets the Kurdistan Region apart from cities and districts, the writer said, framing it as a constitutional rather than political distinction. The success of the cabinet led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani will depend on the political forces backing his program passing the laws required by the Constitution, the analyst wrote. Without that legislative push, Iraq will remain a federal state whose constitution has not been fully implemented.