National Political Council majority endorses Haibet al-Halbousi for Iraq’s Speaker
Shafaq News– Baghdad
The Sunni National Political Council (NPC) on Sunday agreed to nominate MP Haibet al-Halbousi for the post of Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, following consultations among Sunni political forces.
Khamis al-Khanjar, head of the Sovereignty Alliance (Al-Siyada), said during a press briefing after a meeting of senior NPC figures that the decision was reached through discussions involving the majority of the council’s blocs. These included Taqaddum, the Sovereignty Alliance, the Resolve Alliance (Al-Hasm), and the National Masses Alliance (Al-Jamaheer Al-Wataniya). He said the blocs agreed to put forward Haibat al-Halbousi as their candidate for the speakership in the upcoming parliamentary session.
“The nomination reflects the choice of the Sunni majority within the council,” Al-Khanjar said, urging other political forces to consider the decision during the voting process.
A senior source within the Council told Shafaq News that the backing gives Haibat al-Halbousi a clear advantage over other contenders, adding that the Al-Azm Alliance insisted on nominating its leader, Muthanna al-Samarrai, to compete for the same position.
Iraq’s Parliament is scheduled to hold the first session of its sixth legislative term on Monday at 12:00 p.m. The agenda includes administering the constitutional oath to newly elected lawmakers and electing the Speaker and two deputies, according to a statement from the parliament’s media department.
Under Iraq’s post-2003 political convention, the Speaker of Parliament is allocated to the Sunni component, the first deputy speaker to the Shiite component, and the second deputy speaker to the Kurdish component.
Who is Haibet al-Halbousi?
Born in 1980, al-Halbousi holds a master’s degree in political science from Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad. He previously headed the Oil and Energy Committee in the Iraqi Parliament during its fourth and fifth legislative terms and is considered one of the founding figures of the Taqaddum Party.
If elected, he would become the second-youngest speaker in Iraq’s post-2003 parliament, after former speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi.
Read more: Iraq’s speakership: Two decades of constitutional rules and backroom deals
