Iraq
A session of the Iraqi parliament chaired First Deputy Speaker Muhsin al-Mandalawi on November 18, 2023. Photo: Mandalawi's office/Facebook
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iraqi parliament will convene on Saturday to vote on its new speaker, over two months after influential Sunni politician Mohammed al-Halbousi was ousted from the position and after futile efforts to elect a new speaker.
The election of the speaker of parliament on Saturday’s parliament session was listed as one of the items in the agenda published Thursday.
The legislature previously tried 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.
After several MPs criticized the delay in resuming the session and attempts to resume the vote proved futile, first deputy speaker of parliament Muhsin al-Mandalawi adjourned the vote indefinitely.
The main candidates for the position are head of the Taqadum bloc Shaalan al-Karim, head of the Sunni Sovereignty bloc Salem al-Issawi, and veteran politician Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.
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.
Since Halbousi’s sacking, Mandalawi has chaired meetings of the legislature.
The election of the new speaker comes amid mounting pressure on the Iraqi federal government to expel the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) from the country, amid a series of American retaliatory strikes targeting bases of Iran-backed but government-linked militias.
In January 2020, angry over the US killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi deputy Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the parliament passed a non-binding resolution to expel all foreign forces.
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 election of the speaker of parliament on Saturday’s parliament session was listed as one of the items in the agenda published Thursday.
The legislature previously tried 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.
After several MPs criticized the delay in resuming the session and attempts to resume the vote proved futile, first deputy speaker of parliament Muhsin al-Mandalawi adjourned the vote indefinitely.
The main candidates for the position are head of the Taqadum bloc Shaalan al-Karim, head of the Sunni Sovereignty bloc Salem al-Issawi, and veteran politician Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.
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.
Since Halbousi’s sacking, Mandalawi has chaired meetings of the legislature.
The election of the new speaker comes amid mounting pressure on the Iraqi federal government to expel the US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) from the country, amid a series of American retaliatory strikes targeting bases of Iran-backed but government-linked militias.
In January 2020, angry over the US killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi deputy Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the parliament passed a non-binding resolution to expel all foreign forces.
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.
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