Arab Parliament names Iraqi MP first female deputy speaker

Shafaq News- Cairo/ Baghdad

The Arab Parliament elected Iraqi lawmaker Hanan Al-Fatlawi as the fourth deputy speaker on Tuesday, making her the first woman to hold the post since the body's establishment in 2012.

According to the Iraqi Parliament, Al-Fatlawi won the support of a majority of Arab Parliament members after serving two consecutive terms. “Her election reflects Iraq's standing in Arab and international forums and recognizes her contribution to strengthening joint Arab parliamentary cooperation.”

Al-Fatlawi, born in Babil province in 1968, began her parliamentary career in 2005 when she joined Iraq's Transitional National Assembly, which drafted the country's post-2003 constitution after the end of the Baath regime.

She gained national prominence after winning more than 90,000 votes in the 2014 parliamentary elections in her home province of Babil, becoming the highest vote-winning woman in Iraq's electoral history. In 2015, she founded the Irada Movement and became the first woman to lead a political party represented in Iraq's parliament. She currently serves as a senior figure in the parliamentary Reconstruction and Development Coalition (Al-Ima'ar wal-Tanmiya) led by former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

انتخابي نائباً لرئيس البرلمان العربي بالأغلبية .. وهي المرة الأولى لانتخاب امرأة نائباً لرئيس البرلمان العربي منذ اكثر من عشر سنوات ..شكراً لزملائي النواب العرب لثقتهم ..شكراً للسيد رئيس البرلمان العراقي لدعمه ومساندته ..شكراً لزملائي نواب البرلمان العربي من العراق ..نسأل الله… pic.twitter.com/ySWw9w7JeG

— د. حنان الفتلاوي (@hanansmohsin) June 30, 2026