Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi political blocs have reached a preliminary agreement on who will chair 15 of parliament's 20 standing committees, while the leadership of five key committees, including security, electricity, finance, oil and integrity, remains disputed, a parliamentary source told Shafaq News on Thursday.

The parliament's presidency held several meetings with the blocs to settle the issue, and the understandings reached include cutting the number of standing committees to 20 by merging some and creating a new one.

Committees are divided into three tiers, A, B and C. Under a political agreement, a bloc cannot chair a committee overseeing a ministry held by one of its own ministers, according to Shafaq News sources.

The Coordination Framework, the largest bloc in parliament, postponed its regular leaders' meeting on Monday because understandings on some committee chairs had not been finalized, a source in the alliance said.

Parliament amended its bylaws on Feb. 17 and voted on the members of 11 committees on March 11, while the distribution of leadership posts has remained tied to deals between the blocs.