Sunni parties fail to reach agreement on new parliament speaker: lawmaker

Shafaq News/ Iraqi political parties have failed to reach an agreement on a new parliament speaker to replace Mohammad al-Halboosi was removed from office by the Federal Supreme Court.

"There is no political agreement yet on any of the candidates for speaker of parliament," Faris al-Faris, a leader of the Azm Alliance, told the Shafaq News Agency. "The political forces are still holding on to their candidates. None of them has withdrawn from the race."

"Talks are underway but there have been no common ground until the moment," he elaborated.

He said it was likely that no agreement would be reached in the next two days, which could lead to the postponement of the vote on a new speaker.

"The results of the provincial council elections and the alliances that followed will not have a major impact on the selection of a new speaker," he said. "If there is any impact, it will be very small, because this issue depends on the parliamentary weight of the contesting candidates. The seats won in the provincial council have a little to no effect."

Political sources said on Saturday that there was a near-agreement on a shortlist of three figures: Salem al-Issawi, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, and Shaalan al-Kreem.

Last year, the Iraqi parliament's presidium decided to officially terminate the membership of the Speaker of the Council, Mohammad al-Halboosi following a ruling by the country's top court.

On November 14, the court ruled in favor of terminating al-Halboosi's tenure in the parliament after a controversial dispute with Lawmaker Laith al-Dulaimi who accused the ousted speaker of forging his signature on a resignation letter. Al-Dulaimi, a former member of al-Halboosi's parliamentary bloc, was also removed from his position per the court's ruling.