On 19th Nov 2022, the Department of Law at Cihan University Sulaimayah organised a seminar for Mr. Hemen Rasheed Agha, Lecturer of Public Law at the Department. The seminar was titled ‘Extending the life of parliament – Maximum duration of Parliament- in United Kingdom election laws’.
Mr. Hemen Rasheed Agha gave examples of past and present legislations that organize and set the ‘Maximum duration of Parliament, such as Triennial Act 1694 which set the maximum duration at three years, and the Septennial Act 1715, extended the maximum to seven years, subsequently, the Parliament Act 1911, that period was reduced to five years.
He also talked about a historical event that led to the Extending the life of parliament such as the Second World War, when the life of parliament was temporarily extended to ten years by legislation; Prolongation of Parliament Act 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944.
Historically, the extension of the Life of parliaments has required a provision or constitutional amendment. In times of war, invasion, or insurrection, the lifetime of the United Kingdom parliament elected in (1935), due to circumstances relating to World War II was extended in this way for ten years from 1945 to 1944.
Concluding, Mr. Hemen Rasheed Agha stressed the role of the legislature and the laws it enacts when extending the life of parliament. He also argued that, while any government has the duty of and enjoys the right to create policy, but, such issues should be left to the people as represented by parliament, and not to politicians, as they would have wider ramifications. Alternatively, the best course of action would be to decide the matter through a nationwide consultation to get people’s views on such proposals.