The parliament was scheduled to vote on a new speaker during Saturday’s session, but the process has reportedly been postponed until the Federal Supreme Court rules on cases filed against a number of the candidates, according to Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) MP Srwa Mohammed.
A first vote was held on January 13, but the session was adjourned indefinitely more than 10 hours after it started as no candidate was able to obtain an absolute majority, pushing the vote into a second round.
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.
A group of Shiite lawmakers have filed a lawsuit against Karim, calling on the court to rule his candidacy “unconstitutional” due to his alleged past links to Saddam Hussein’s Baath party. The court is set to hear the complaint on Monday.
The Baath party has been outlawed in Iraq. The Accountability and Justice Act, passed in 2008, governs the practice of de-Baathification, defined as procedures to “intellectually, administratively, politically, culturally and economically dismantle the Baath party system in Iraqi society, state institutions, and civil society institutions."
Another complaint filed by MP Bassim Khashan questions whether the candidates meet the conditions required to run for the position, stating that the necessary investigation into them was not conducted prior to parliament’s January 13 sitting. The court is expected to rule on Khashan’s case on Monday as well.
The parliament has been without a leader since the Federal Supreme Court on November 14 ruled to end Mohammed al-Halbousi’s tenures as speaker and revoke his parliamentary membership. 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, First Deputy Speaker Muhsin al-Mandalawi has chaired meetings of the legislature. The parliament currently has no scheduled date to vote on a new speaker.
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