Iraqi row over key laws deepens

By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Scores of Iraqi lawmakers stormed out of parliament on Tuesday after blocking a vote on the 2008 budget and other key bills, prompting calls for the legislature to be disbanded.

Parliament speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani, a Sunni Arab, told reporters he might ask the presidency council to dissolve the legislature unless the crisis was resolved. The council comprises Iraq's president and two vice presidents.

According to Iraq's constitution, parliament can dissolve itself with the consent of the absolute majority of its members, or upon the request of the prime minister and with the approval of the president. Mashhadani did not elaborate.

The walkout during an evening session, mainly by Shi'ite and Sunni Arab lawmakers, underscored the deep distrust between the country's different sectarian and ethnic groups.

"The crisis of confidence in parliament has grown," Bahaa al-Araji, a senior lawmaker from the movement of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, told a news conference.

"I think we should admit the failure of the (political process), dissolve parliament and hold new elections."

In a rare moment of unity, Shi'ite and Sunni Arab MPs blamed the Kurdish bloc for the deepening legislative crisis. Kurdish lawmakers, who account for about 20 percent of the parliament, blamed their Shi'ite and Sunni Arab colleagues.

Lawmakers have been haggling over the $48 billion budget for weeks. Debate has been taking place at the same time on an amnesty law that could free thousands of prisoners and a bill on provincial powers that would define relations between Baghdad and local authorities.