Breaking: No winner in the Iraqi Parliamentary Speaker election, Second round to follow

Shafaq News/ On Thursday, the Iraqi Parliament proceeded to a second round of voting to elect its new Speaker, as no candidate secured the required number of votes to win during the ongoing session.

First-round results showed that Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani, candidate from the Progress Party (Al-Taqadum) and the majority of Sunni blocs and several blocs from the Coordination Framework, took the lead with 153 votes; Salem al-Issawi, backed by the Azm and Sovereignty (Al-Siyada) alliances, followed with 95 votes; while independent MP Amer Abdul Jabbar received 9 votes. Additionally, 15 ballots were deemed invalid.