Disagreements Hinder Selection of Iraqi Parliament Speaker

Iraq 02:02 AM - 2024-06-21

Iraqi Parliament.

Selecting a speaker for the Iraqi parliament remains in a stalemate as political parties struggle to reach an agreement. A member of the parliament stated that the parties have not yet achieved a consensus on this matter, and as a result, no specific date has been set for the election of a new speaker.

There is no scheduled date for electing a new speaker

Dr. Bryar Rashid, a member of the Iraqi Parliament, told PUKMEDIA that despite the postponement of the parliamentary break, no date has been set for a meeting to select a new speaker of parliament.

"An agreement on the appointment of a new speaker has not been reached among the parties, and parliament will be on legislative break until July," he added.

Iraqi parliament has been without a speaker for over seven months

On November 14, 2023, the Federal Supreme Court revoked Mohammed al-Halbousi's membership and position as the speaker of the Iraqi Parliament. From that time, the Sunni parties have failed to come to a collective decision in selecting an alternate candidate for the position of Speaker of the Iraqi parliament. Despite two rounds of voting on January 13th 2024 and May 18th, 2024 to elect the speaker, none of the candidates received enough votes to secure the position. 

The Parliament has delayed the legislative break

The Iraqi parliament had initially planned to begin its legislative recess on May 9th, 2024. However, the parliament decided to delay the recess by a month in order to select a new Speaker of the House and approve the budget schedules. Unfortunately, the parliament was unsuccessful in electing a new Speaker during this time due to a lack of agreement between the parties. As a result, the position remained administered by the First Deputy.



PUKMEDIA