Parliament to vote for a new speaker after the local election: lawmaker

Shafaq News/ The Iraqi parliament will not vote for a new speaker until after the local election scheduled to take place on December 18.

The move was made public by Nihal al-Shammari, a member of the Takaddom parliamentary bloc led by al-Halboosi himself, in a statement on Sunday.

Last week, Former Parliament Speaker al-Halboosi appeared before the judiciary to answer allegations of forgery.

Al-Shammari told the Shafaq News Agency that the postponement was decided following an agreement between the political entities in Iraq. This agreement, according to the lawmaker, implies no changes in the roster of candidates vying for the post.

Al-Shammari did not exclude the possibility of choosing a candidate from outside Takaddom, pointing out whether al-Halboosi's replacement is a member of his party or not is heavily influenced by the local election results.

Al-Halbousi, who was ousted from office by the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court in November, said he had been accused of forging a letter of resignation from lawmaker Laith al-Dulaimi. He denied the allegations, saying that the letter was authentic.

The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court's surprise decision upended the career of Iraq's most powerful Sunni Muslim politician and set the stage for a fight over succession.

Al-Halboosi's ouster -and the consequent resignation of the country's planning, industry, and culture ministers- destabilizes the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who came to power one year ago backed by a coalition that is led by a group of Shiite parties but also includes Kurds and Sunni Arabs.

Re-elected in 2021, the former governor of al-Anbar was serving his second term as speaker, a post he assumed in 2018 at 37. Under the sectarian power-sharing system established after the 2003 U.S. invasion, a parliament speaker is the highest office for a Sunni Muslim.