“There will be meetings as soon as possible between the components of the Sunni bloc to decide on a commonly agreed-upon nominee, and not go to the parliament with more than one candidate,” Saud al-Mashhadani, advisor to the head of the Taqadum party, told Rudaw on Thursday.
The Iraqi parliament has been without a speaker since November, when the Federal Supreme Court ruled to terminate Mohammed al-Halbousi’s tenure and revoke his parliamentary membership.
Lawmakers from Taqadum, headed by Halbousi, insist the party is entitled to the speakership.
It "is the right of the Taqadum party, being the largest party within the Sunni bloc, which has the largest number of seats,” Mashhadani said.
Under Iraq’s sectarian power-sharing system, the post of the parliament speaker is reserved for Sunnis, the prime minister position for Shiites, and the presidency for Kurds.
Mashhadani noted that despite Halbousi’s repeated attempts to reach a solution with their Sunni partners, they have been unable to reach a compromise.
A breakthrough appears to have been made by Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) who visited Baghdad this week. Mashdadani said that Barzani was able to “unite the opponents, even those who were the main reason that the post of the speaker of parliament was not filled.”
The advisor said that Barzani proposed Sunnis unite behind a single candidate for parliament to vote on.
Barzani received Halbousi and members of the Sunni bloc on Thursday in Baghdad.
