Iraq's Federal Court rejects lawsuit challenging nomination for Parliament Speaker

Shafaq News / A judicial source reported on Wednesday that the Federal Court rejected a lawsuit challenging the nomination of Shaalan Al-Karim for the position of Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament due to lack of jurisdiction.

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 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.