Taqaddum renews support for Shaalan Al-Karim as Speaker of Iraqi Parliament

Shafaq News / The Taqaddum Parliamentary Bloc renewed its commitment on Monday to nominate Shaalan Al-Karim for the position of Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, indicating that this decision will be finalized after Eid al-Fitr.

Member of the bloc Burhan Nasser told Shafaq News Agency, "Discussions are ongoing between the blocs and the Coordination Framework regarding the election of the Speaker of Parliament. These discussions are based on electoral entitlements, which led to the formation of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani's government."

Nasser added, "The Taqaddum Bloc has the entitlement and the right to choose the candidate for the position of Speaker of Parliament. After Eid, a new Speaker will be chosen for the Council."

He pointed out that "MP Shaalan Al-Karim remains the nominee of our bloc for the position of Parliament Speaker, and any personality agreed upon by the bloc will be presented, and the Framework has no objection to assuming the position."

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 Taqaddum"party's Shaalan al-Karim with 152 votes out of 314. MP Salem Al-Issawi followed him with 97 votes, MP Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani with 48 votes, MP Amer Abduljabbar with six votes, and MP Talal Al-Zobaie with one vote.

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 Yousif Al-Kilaby and Faleh Hassan 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 council's presidency.

The Federal Integrity Commission (CoI) announced on January 17 that it had initiated investigations into these allegations.

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.