Lawmaker says choosing new parliament speaker is a Sunni affair; Shiite blocs have no veto rights

Shafaq News/ The Sovereignty Coalition, a Sunni-led political bloc in the Iraqi parliament, on Monday said that the selection of the new speaker of the Iraqi parliament is the exclusive right of the Sunnis, and that the Coordination Framework, a consortium of mainly Iran-backed Shiite political forces, has no right to veto any candidate proposed by the Sunni blocs.

"We believe that a new speaker of the Iraqi parliament will be from the Taqaddum party, given the number of parliamentary seats occupied by its members," Hasan al-Jubouri said, "we also believe that the decision to terminate the membership of al-Halbousi is a strong blow to the Sunni component."

"The selection of the new parliament speaker is a Sunni affair," he continued, "the approval of the Shiite Coordination Framework is crucial indeed, but it has no right to veto any candidate proposed by the Sunni majority."