Shafaq News/ The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, thanked the member of the Tasmim (Determination) parliamentary bloc, Assaad al-Eidani, for the "honorable" attitude he and "some" of his colleagues showed by attending the parliamentary session called on Saturday to elect a president of the republic.

According to a readout issued by his bureau, al-Sadr held a phone call with al-Eidani, a member of Tasmim bloc and incumbent governor of Basra, earlier today, Saturday.

al-Sadr ascribed al-Eidani's position as "honorable" after he, among other members of his bloc, attended the session today.

"This position is a beginning of the end of corruption, subordination, and consensus to form a national majority government," al-Sadr said according to the readout.

Earlier today, Iraq's parliament failed again to vote for a president after the Iran-backed Shiite Coordination Framework boycotted the session.

Al-Sadr had hoped parliament would elect Rebar Ahmed, a veteran Kurdish intelligence official and current interior minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.

But only 202 members of parliament out of 329 were present, which is less than the necessary two-thirds quorum needed to choose a new president for the mostly ceremonial post, while 126 lawmakers boycotted the session.

The delay prolongs a bitter deadlock in Iraqi politics months after an October general election from which al-Sadr emerged the biggest winner, with his Shiite, pro-Iran rivals receiving a hammering at the polls.

The vote on the president was postponed to Wednesday. The current caretaker government will continue to run the country until a new government is formed.