Iraqi parliament to vote on new speaker Saturday

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi parliament will convene on Saturday to vote on its new speaker, two months after influential Sunni politician Mohammed al-Halbousi was ousted from his position. 

“The parliament session scheduled for next Saturday will include the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives,” said a statement from the legislature. 

The vote is expected to commence at 3:00 pm.

The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court on November 14 ruled to revoke Halbousi’s parliamentary membership and end his tenure as speaker of parliament. The Sunni strongman was accused of forging the parliamentary resignation of another Sunni lawmaker in 2022 by changing the date on the document.

Under Iraq’s sectarian power-sharing system, the post of the parliament speaker is always reserved for the Sunnis, the prime minister position for the Shiites, and the presidency for the Kurds.

The parliament was set to vote for a new speaker on December 13, but the session was postponed. 

Since Halbousi’s sacking, first deputy speaker Muhsin al-Mandalawi has chaired meetings of the legislature. 

The top priorities of the parliament for the new term after a month-long break will be voting on a new speaker and ending the presence of the United States-led global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS). 

The new term of the legislature comes amid an escalation of tensions between Iran-aligned militias and US forces, who in the past couple of months have carried out numerous strikes against each other that are threatening Baghdad-Washington relations.