Coordination Framework moves toward backing Sunni Nominee for Parliament Speaker

Shafaq News– Baghdad

A senior figure in Iraq’s Shiite-led Coordination Framework (CF) said on Sunday that the alliance is inclined to support the candidate selected by Sunni political forces for the post of parliament speaker.

Abdul Rahman al-Jazaeri, a CF leading member, told Shafaq News that the bloc “will move toward endorsing whatever the Sunni house agrees upon,” adding that it may vote in favor of Haibet al-Halbousi if he secures consensus among Sunni alliances.

Regarding nomination for the post of first deputy speaker, he noted that Ahmed al-Asadi, Iraq’s current minister of labor and social affairs, is emerging as the leading contender, while the agreement on the remaining parliamentary leadership positions could be reached in the near term.

Earlier, four alliances within the Sunni National Political Council, Taqaddum, Al-Siyada, Al-Hasm, and Al-Jamaheer Al-Wataniya, announced the nomination of al-Halbousi for the position of parliament speaker following hours-long internal talks. In parallel, the Al-Azm Alliance said it had nominated its leader, Muthanna al-Samarrai, as a rival candidate for the speakership.

The Iraqi Council of Representatives is expected to convene its first session of the sixth parliamentary term on Monday, during which lawmakers will take the constitutional oath and elect the speaker and the first and second deputy speakers.

Read more: Iraq’s speakership: Two decades of constitutional rules and backroom deals