Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraq’s Shiite Coordination Framework (CF), the largest parliamentary bloc, is expected to name its candidate for first deputy speaker of parliament on Saturday, a source said.

The source told Shafaq News that CF leaders would meet at the office of Ammar Al-Hakim, head of the Al-Hikma (Wisdom) Movement, to settle on a nominee. The post is typically held by a Shiite lawmaker under Iraq’s post-2003 power-sharing convention.

The contenders are Adnan Faihan of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, Muhsin Al-Mandalawi of the Al-Asas (The Foundation) Alliance, and Ahmed Al-Asadi from caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development (Al-Ima’ar Wal Tanmiya) coalition, the source added.

President Abdul Latif Rashid has called the first session of the new parliament for December 29, when lawmakers are expected to begin electing the speaker and deputies, steps that usually open the constitutional process that leads to naming a prime minister.

Negotiations over the speakership remain unresolved. Sunni parties grouped in the National Political Council have held repeated meetings to agree on a single nominee or narrow the contest ahead of the first sitting but have so far failed to reach a final deal, according to a source.

The CF has also yet to agree on a candidate for prime minister and the formation of a new government.

Read more: Iraq begins 90-day countdown to form government as political fault lines re-emerge