Iraqi State of Law Coalition rules out Parliament Presidency resolution, calls on Sunni parties to compromise
Shafaq News / On Friday, deputy of the State of Law Coalition Firas Al-Muslimawi ruled out holding a session to elect the Speaker of Parliament during the upcoming week, indicating that resolving the position requires dialogue and concessions from Sunni parties.
Al-Muslimawi stated, "The Sunni disagreement persists, and the political blocs have not yet agreed on a candidate for the position of Speaker of Parliament."
He explained that "resolving the position of the Speaker of Parliament requires dialogue, Sunni parties making concessions, and reaching an agreement on the mechanism for selecting the Speaker of the Council." He pointed out that "these three steps could be the solution to electing a new Speaker of Parliament."
Al-Muslimawi added, "The Coordination Framework bloc has conditions or criteria for choosing a candidate for the position of Speaker of the Council. The candidate must be patriotic, not affiliated with foreign agendas, moderate, not accused of corruption, and must have prior political experience and expertise."
He continued, "The withdrawal of MP Shaalan al-Karim from running for the presidency of the council did not affect the political scene, as the Taqaddum Party submitted a request to the Presidency of the Council to amend the internal regulations of the council and add a paragraph to Article 12 to open the door for nominations for the presidency of the council." He noted that "this indicates the Taqaddum Party's intention to nominate a new candidate for the position instead of al-Karim."
The MP concluded his statement by saying, "Acting Speaker of Parliament Mohsen al-Mandalawi has referred the Taqaddum Party's request to the Legal Committee to consider amendments to the internal regulations in one package, and there has been no response from the committee regarding setting a date to amend the council's internal regulations." He added that "after completing the amendments, they will be voted on within the council."
On Thursday, the State of Law coalition, led by former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, affirmed the imminent vote by the Parliament on Salem Al-Issaoui, a deputy from Al-Anbar governorate, for the position of Parliament speaker.
Coalition member Thaer al-Jubouri told Shafaq News Agency, "Shaalan al-Karim withdrew his candidacy for parliament presidency after realizing the difficulty of gaining the council's confidence due to veto from deputies and different political blocs."
Al-Jubouri stated, "Al-Karim's withdrawal announcement will expedite the resolution of the new parliament speaker's election crisis. With this step, Salem Al-Issawi is very close to obtaining the deputies' confidence in the coming days, and we await the leaders of blocs to agree on setting the election session date soon."
On Wednesday, Mohammed Al-Alawi, a leader in the Taqaddum Party, one of the prominent Sunni blocs in Iraq, said, "So far, there have been no developments regarding the election of a new speaker for the Parliament. We do not believe there is a replacement for Al-Halbousi now. His return to his position is possible, and there is a legal and political possibility to achieve this."
Al-Alawi revealed that "some parties within the Coordination Framework proposed Al-Halbousi's return to the presidency of the parliament, and his return would be through legal and judicial frameworks."
"If Al-Halbousi does not return, we do not believe there will be a replacement for him, and we expect the position of the Parliament's president to remain vacant until the next parliamentary elections. Everyone understands the difficulty of electing any replacement during the upcoming period."
The Federal Supreme Court, the highest judicial authority in Iraq, decided on November 14, 2023, to end the membership of Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi. Then, the Iraqi Parliament officially terminated his membership on November 21, 2023.
The decisions came after a lawsuit against him by Deputy Laith Al-Dulaimi. The lawsuit accused Al-Halbousi of forging Al-Dulaimi's resignation from Parliament membership, leading to the Federal Supreme Court's decision to end both memberships.
On January 13, the Iraqi Parliament held an extraordinary session to choose the new Speaker. The first round of voting ended with the victory of the Taqadum" party's Shaalan al-Karim with 152 votes out of 314. MP Salem Al-Issawi followed him with 97 votes, MP Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani with 48 votes, MP Amer Abduljabbar with six votes, and MP Talal Al-Zobaie with one vote.
However, due to verbal altercations inside the council hall, the session was adjourned without completing the election process, and no other session was held.
Since then, the political blocs have been unable to agree on a replacement for him, with each side wanting to nominate someone from their group.
Some lawmakers believe that these differences between the political parties will leave the position of Parliament speaker vacant until the end of the current parliamentary term, and there is no indication that this crisis will be resolved soon.
Despite some parties indicating that the issue would be resolved after Eid al-Fitr, the Iraqi Parliament has failed several times to choose a successor to al-Halbousi.
The National Wisdom Movement's Head, Ammar al-Hakim, a prominent part of the Framework, anticipated the election of a new Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament "soon" to replace the ousted al-Halbousi.
Al-Hakim stated, "There are still some unresolved political issues, and we all hope they can be addressed, including the election of a new Speaker of Parliament soon."
