HoR Publishes 13th Constitutional Amendment

The House of Representatives (HoR) published the 13th constitutional declaration amendment in the fourth issue of the official gazette on Thursday and it included 34 articles, according to the spokesman for HoR Abdullah Blehiq.

The HoR approved the 13th constitutional amendment in a session held on February 07. This amendment defines the new system of government and the tasks of the elected president and prime minister, as well as the powers and tasks of the legislative authority, which the amendment divided into two chambers: the HoR and the National Assembly.

The HCS failed over the last few days to convene a session to deliberate the 13th constitutional amendment and refer an opinion to the HoR. It also put off its session that was supposed to see a vote on the amendment to next Sunday.

The HoR referred the 13th constitutional amendment to the High Council of State (HCS) for opinion and consultation, despite the statement of HoR Speaker Aqila Saleh that issuing legislation is one of the tasks of the HoR alone and that the role of the HCS does not go beyond giving non-binding opinions.

Some HCS members said that protesters entered the hall and prevented the session from taking place, while others said that a number of members received threats on their phones against approving the constitutional amendment.

A number of HCS members issued a few days ago a statement expressing their rejection of what they described as attempts by the Head Khalid Al-Mishri to pass the amendment without consideration and voting on by the members. They stressed that some members refused to pass the amendment, regarding the committees that will work using the amendment to issue electoral laws will be formed by the presidency of the two chambers without referring to the members, and therefore what Saleh and Al-Mishri want will be approved.