Iraqi Parliament elects Haibet Al-Halbousi as Speaker

Shafaq News– Baghdad

Iraq’s Council of Representatives elected lawmaker Haibet Al-Halbousi as speaker on Monday during the first session of the newly formed parliament.

Haibet Al-Halbousi, 45, a lawmaker from the Taqaddum (Progress) Party led by Mohammed Al-Halbousi, won 208 votes after Muthanna Al-Samarrai, head of Al-Azm Alliance, withdrew from the race for the speakership, narrowing the contest to three candidates inside the chamber.

According to the official vote count, candidate Salem Al-Issawi received 66 votes, while MP Amer Abdul-Jabbar secured nine votes. A total of 26 ballots were declared invalid.

On the eve of the session, the National Political Council, an umbrella grouping that includes prominent Sunni political forces, announced its endorsement of Al-Halbousi as a consensus candidate representing several parliamentary blocs. The announcement followed sharp disagreements within Iraq’s Sunni political landscape ahead of the vote. 

Read more: Iraq’s Parliament Speakership vote: Stress test ahead of Dec. 29

The election of the speaker is one of the first constitutional steps in forming Iraq’s new political leadership following parliamentary elections. The post is traditionally allocated to a Sunni Arab lawmaker under Iraq’s power-sharing system. In the next stage, parliament is expected to move forward with the selection of the first and second deputy speakers. Following this, lawmakers are required to elect a president of the republic within 30 days of the inaugural parliamentary session. Once elected, the president will formally task the largest parliamentary bloc with forming a new government, a process that can take months due to the need for broad political complications among Iraq’s rival factions.