ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi parliament will convene on Saturday to vote on its new speaker, six months after influential Sunni politician Mohammed al-Halbousi was removed from the post and amid futile efforts to elect a new speaker.
The election of the speaker of parliament on Saturday’s session was listed as one of the items in the legislature’s agenda published on Wednesday.
Efforts to elect a new speaker appear to be culminating after Iraq’s largest Sunni bloc in the parliament, the Taqadum alliance, announced on Monday its support for veteran politician Mahmoud al-Mashhadani to take up the post.
In November, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court ruled to revoke Halbousi’s parliamentary membership and end his tenure as speaker. The Sunni strongman was accused of forging the resignation of another Sunni lawmaker in 2022 by changing the date on the document.
The legislature previously attempted to vote on the new speaker on January 13, but after repeated delays no candidate was able to obtain an absolute majority, pushing the vote into a second round which was never held. Taqadum’s Shaalan al-Karim and Sunni Sovereignty bloc’s Salem al-Issawi received the highest number of votes in the first round.
Mashhadani, who was the parliamentary speaker from 2006 to 2008, was also a candidate for the vacant position in January.
In April, Karim withdrew from the race for the position due to opposition from Shiite blocs in parliament.
The Coordination Framework, the largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament, earlier this month called on the Sunni blocs in the parliament to fill the speaker position within a week.
Under Iraq’s sectarian power-sharing system, the post of parliament speaker is always reserved for the Sunnis, the prime minister position for the Shiites, and the presidency for the Kurds.
The election of the speaker of parliament on Saturday’s session was listed as one of the items in the legislature’s agenda published on Wednesday.
Efforts to elect a new speaker appear to be culminating after Iraq’s largest Sunni bloc in the parliament, the Taqadum alliance, announced on Monday its support for veteran politician Mahmoud al-Mashhadani to take up the post.
In November, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court ruled to revoke Halbousi’s parliamentary membership and end his tenure as speaker. The Sunni strongman was accused of forging the resignation of another Sunni lawmaker in 2022 by changing the date on the document.
The legislature previously attempted to vote on the new speaker on January 13, but after repeated delays no candidate was able to obtain an absolute majority, pushing the vote into a second round which was never held. Taqadum’s Shaalan al-Karim and Sunni Sovereignty bloc’s Salem al-Issawi received the highest number of votes in the first round.
Mashhadani, who was the parliamentary speaker from 2006 to 2008, was also a candidate for the vacant position in January.
In April, Karim withdrew from the race for the position due to opposition from Shiite blocs in parliament.
The Coordination Framework, the largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament, earlier this month called on the Sunni blocs in the parliament to fill the speaker position within a week.
Under Iraq’s sectarian power-sharing system, the post of parliament speaker is always reserved for the Sunnis, the prime minister position for the Shiites, and the presidency for the Kurds.
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