Outgoing Palestinian MPs Empower Abbas to Revoke Laws, Dissolve PLC
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At the last minute before ceding their mandate to the new parliament and in a final act that Hamas officials called a ‘white coup d'etat,’ the outgoing Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) on Monday empowered President Mahmoud Abbas to revoke laws and even to dissolve the new PLC dominated by the Islamic Resistance Movement, which won the legislative elections in a landslide on January 25, and is scheduled to be sworn in on Saturday, February 18.
Hamas with 74 seats in the 132-seat chamber will dominate the new parliament.
Palestinian lawmakers, in their final act before ceding to the new, Hamas-led parliament, approved on Monday an amendment to an existing law, which will give Abbas the authority to appoint a new, nine-judge constitutional court without seeking legislative approval.
The court could also veto legislation deemed to violate the Basic Law, a forerunner to the Palestinian constitution.
The court will serve as the ultimate arbiter in the event of disputes between the Palestinian President and the government and parliament, and also in petitions by civilians against the three branches of government.
The outcome of the vote could be significant because judges on the court would have sweeping powers to decide whether laws approved by parliament are constitutional.
Before the amendment was passed by a vote of 41 to 3 with one abstention, the law required parliament to approve presidential appointments to the judiciary.
Abbas had promised not to introduce any changes to the Basic Law before the new parliament is sworn in, but the law passed Monday is not part of the constitution.
Legal expert Issam Abdeen told AP that the new legislation would let Abbas ‘cancel any law approved by the new parliament on the pretext it is unconstitutional.’
‘The new amendment gives President Mahmoud Abbas power over the laws of the new Palestinian legislature, since he is the one who appoints the judges of the constitutional court,’ Abdeen said. ‘He can use (these powers) to nullify laws that are unacceptable to him. If Hamas now approves Islamic laws, he could say it is against the constitution.’
The outgoing parliament, dominated by the outgoing ruling Fatah movement, passed yet another resolution, which makes all members of the incoming legislature into members of the National Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) parliament in exile. This interesting feature of this move is that the PLO charter recognizes the state of Israel, which Hamas does not.
The PLC also on Monday made several other changes to its structure, altering the parliament's regulations to appoint a new secretary general from Fatah to oversee the administrative management of the new parliament.
Hamas Cries Foul
Hamas spokesmen have already announced that they intend to reverse the appointment and appoint a Hamas official to the post.
Hamas termed the 11th-hour legislation ‘illegitimate’ and vowed to overturn it. One of its incoming legislators called the legislation ‘a bloodless coup,’ according to AP.
Hamas would need a two-thirds majority, or 88 of 132 seats in parliament, to change Monday's legislation and it was unclear whether the group would muster such a majority.
Some of Hamas's newly elected parliamentarians shouted at Fatah lawmakers after the vote, accusing them of overstepping their authority and trying to undo the election.
‘This law means giving full powers to President Abbas to dissolve parliament any time he wishes,’ said Hamas's Abdel-Aziz Dweik, who was elected to represent the West Bank city of Hebron.
Dweik said parliament had taken an ‘illegal’ action, but acknowledged it would be difficult for Hamas to reverse the decision since doing so would require a two-thirds vote.
‘This (old) parliament has no mandate and no authority to issue any new legislation,’ protested another Hamas deputy, Said Siyam.
A third Hamas MP, Dr. Mahmoud Ramahi, described Monday parliamentary move as ‘a white coup d'etat,’ and warned: ‘In Algeria they did a black coup d'etat when they used the military to overturn the results of the elections. In this law they gave Mahmoud Abbas the ability to dissolve the parliament through the judges he appoints.’
‘This is immoral. The majority of the people who decided this today are people who lost in the elections. On January 25 the people elected others to replace them, so how can they on February 13 decide to make changes for the people?’ Ramahi added.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat, who was elected to the new PLC, countered that the changes ‘strengthen the separation of powers between the judicial branch, the executive and the legislative branch.’
‘This is a legal session... We are not conspiring against anybody. We are simply doing our jobs,’ Erakat said.