Political blocs intensify negotiations to resolve Parliamentary Speaker deadlock
Shafaq News / A political source confirmed on Friday that political blocs continue their negotiations to reach an agreement on the selection of the new Parliament Speaker before the session scheduled for tomorrow. The source suggested the session might be postponed due to the lack of a political agreement so far.
The source stated that "Iraqi political forces, in all their diversity, are engaging in intensive and extensive dialogues to reach political understandings and agreements before the parliamentary session tomorrow. The goal is to agree on a candidate for the presidency of the parliament."
He added, "As of now, there is no agreement between the blocs. If the session is held without a prior understanding and agreement, it may lead to postponing the election of the president. The omission of the election item from the session's agenda could also result in its postponement."
Since the Federal Supreme Court, the highest judicial authority in Iraq, issued a decision on November 14, 2023, ending the membership of Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, and following the formal termination of al-Halbousi's membership by the Iraqi parliament, political blocs have been unable to agree on a replacement for him.
The Iraqi parliament held an extraordinary session on January 13 to choose the new Speaker. The first round of voting ended with the victory of the "Taqaddom" party's Shaa’lan al-Karim with 152 votes out of 314. However, due to verbal altercations inside the council hall, the session was adjourned without completing the election process, and no other session has been held since.
On the next day, January 14, MPs Yusuf al-Kalabi and Falah al-Khazali filed a lawsuit with the Federal Supreme Court, seeking a provisional injunction to halt the election session until the resolution of their lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges bribery of some MPs to vote for specific candidates for the presidency of the council.
The Federal Integrity Commission (CoI) announced on January 17 that it had initiated investigations into allegations of bribery involving some MPs to vote for specific candidates for the presidency of the Iraqi parliament.
Furthermore, acting Parliament Speaker Mohsen al-Mandalawi formed a parliamentary investigation committee on January 23 to probe the allegations of bribery and financial inducements related to the election session.
