Iraqi parliament votes for new speaker, but no winner emeges

Shafaq News/The Iraqi parliament voted on Saturday in the first round of elections for a new speaker, but no candidate won a majority.

The results of the first round showed that Shaalan al-Kareem, the candidate of the Taladum party led by Ousted Parliament Speaker Mohammad al-Halboosi, won the most votes with 152 out of 314 ballots cast.

He was followed by Salem al-Issawi with 97 votes. The other candidates were Mahmoud al-Mashhadani with 48 votes, Amer Abdul-Jabbar with 6 votes, and Talal al-Zobaei with 1 vote.

There were 10 invalid ballots.

The second round of voting will be held on Saturday evening at 8 pm. To win, a candidate must receive a majority of votes cast, or at least 220 votes. If no candidate wins in the second round, a third round will be held.