KDP to decide on 2nd Deputy Speaker nominee ahead of parliament session
Shafaq News– Baghdad
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said on Sunday that a delegation from its political bureau will travel to Baghdad on Monday to finalize the party’s nominee for the post of second deputy speaker of the Iraqi Parliament and to determine its position on voting for the next Speaker.
KDP member Wafa Mohammed told Shafaq News that the delegation will meet with the party’s parliamentary bloc to formally present the candidate for the second deputy speaker position, and to announce the head of the KDP’s parliamentary bloc.
The talks will also cover the party’s stance on the speakership vote if more than one candidate is put forward.
A senior KDP source said the party’s political bureau has already submitted a shortlist of nominees to the position, adding that a final decision is expected only hours before parliament convenes. The list includes Shakhwan Abdullah, Rebar Hadi, Farhad Atrushi, and Ashwaq Jaf, with no clear frontrunner at this stage.
The move comes as negotiations intensify over parliament’s leadership posts ahead of the first session of the sixth legislative term. Sunni blocs have yet to coalesce around a single candidate for Speaker, with the National Political Council backing Haibet al-Halbousi while the Al-Azm Alliance has nominated its leader, Muthanna al-Samarrai.
Iraq’s Council of Representatives is scheduled to convene on Monday at 12:00 p.m. The agenda includes administering the constitutional oath to newly elected lawmakers and electing the Speaker, along with the first and second deputy speakers.
Political analyst Haider al-Barzanji said the viability of the opening session depends on resolving the top parliamentary positions in advance, noting that one deputy speakership is widely expected to go to the KDP, while talks over the first deputy speaker post are nearing completion.
Under Iraq’s post-2003 political arrangement, the Speaker of Parliament is selected from the Sunni component, the first deputy speaker from the Shiite component, and the second deputy speaker from the Kurdish component.
According to Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission, the KDP secured 27 of the 46 seats allocated to the Kurdistan Region in the sixth-term parliament.
