Accusations are flying around... and a final deadline to decide on the parliament presidency

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[size=52]Accusations are flying around... and a final deadline to decide on the parliament presidency[/size]

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2024-07-30
Our reports
Accusations of obstructing the appointment of a new parliament speaker are still being thrown around among the political forces. While the Shiite forces hold their Sunni counterparts responsible for delaying this file over the past months, the latter blame the Coordination Framework forces, stressing that they are experiencing an internal conflict, and some parties in it intend to keep the interim president, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi.[/size]
[size=45]Meanwhile, the framework forces confirmed that they had given the Sunni blocs a final deadline to choose a candidate before going to vote during the current week, but a political observer confirms that this deadline is nothing more than an attempt at media pressure.[/size]
[size=45]The leader of the Coordination Framework, Ali al-Zubaidi, said in an interview with “Al-Alam Al-Jadeed” that “the framework forces are serious about resolving the issue of electing a new speaker of the Iraqi parliament, and a final deadline has been given to the Sunni political forces to resolve the differences among them during this week.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Zubaidi added, “The failure of the Sunni political forces to resolve their differences will push us to hold a session to elect the Speaker of Parliament without waiting for these forces, as they are the ones responsible for delaying this file throughout the past months.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "The Sunni-Sunni conflict is still the master of the situation, so we do not believe that the differences will be resolved during these days," noting that "the closest scene now is to go towards holding a new session to elect the Speaker of Parliament, and the decision remains in the hands of the representatives, and whichever candidate gets the highest number of votes will be the president."[/size]
[size=45]With the decision of the Presidency of the Council of Representatives to officially terminate the membership of the Speaker of the Council, Mohammed al-Halbousi, based on the decision of the Federal Supreme Court, on November 14, 2023, about 8 months have passed since the Council of Representatives was devoid of a true speaker, but it is managed by Representative Mohsen al-Mandalawi temporarily.[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that the House of Representatives has failed more than once to elect the Speaker of Parliament, as the paragraph was included in special sessions to elect the Speaker, but they were not held due to the lack of agreement on a specific candidate to fill the position.[/size]
[size=45]Voting for the Speaker of the House of Representatives requires a quorum of half plus one of the number of seats in Parliament, which the Sunni forces do not have, as the number is 166 representatives, and the Progress Party, which has the majority of Sunni seats, only has about 35 seats.[/size]
[size=45]For her part, MP Nahal Al-Shammari confirmed, during an interview with “Al-Alam Al-Jadeed”, that “the differences are raging between all political forces regarding the election of the new parliament speaker, and despite all the political dialogues and movement between the blocs and parties, the conflicts are still ongoing and present without any solutions.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shammari added that “the Coordination Framework bears a great responsibility due to the failure to decide on the election of the Speaker of Parliament. It has given more than one deadline, but it is still internally divided,” noting that “some parties in the framework are in favor of continuing the crisis in order to keep Mohsen Al-Mandalawi.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Shammari points out that “the continuation of this procrastination will push us to collect signatures representing the majority of representatives to hold a session to elect the Speaker of the House of Representatives during the end of this week or the beginning of next week.”[/size]
[size=45]The representative of the “Azm” coalition, Raad Al-Dahlaki, confirmed that there are extensive discussions between the main Sunni blocs about deciding the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and a special session will be held next week to choose who represents the Sunnis in this position, noting that the blocs representing the western and northern regions are determined to decide this issue and appoint a Speaker of the House, which represents a Sunni entitlement.[/size]
[size=45]According to the political custom followed after the change of the previous regime in 2003, the position of Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament is always assigned to the Sunni component, while the Kurds hold the position of President of the Republic, and the Shiites hold the position of Prime Minister.[/size]
[size=45]In addition, political analyst Muhammad Ali Al-Hakim, during an interview with “Al-Alam Al-Jadeed”, believes that “the crisis of electing the Speaker of the House of Representatives is a fabricated crisis and not a real one, as there are parties that are deliberately obstructing the resolution of this issue in order to achieve political and personal gains.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Hakim explains that “the grace period that the Coordination Framework gives to the Sunni political forces from time to time is an attempt at media pressure, even though everyone is well aware that this file cannot be resolved in light of the division within the Shiite and Sunni houses.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "The political conflict over the presidency of the House of Representatives led to a greater political division in the Shiite house than in the Sunni house, and this will lead to destabilizing the Coordination Framework during the next stage."[/size]
[size=45]The Coordination Framework held a meeting last week in the presence of the head of the Progress Party, Mohammed al-Halbousi, and Muthanna al-Samarrai, leader of the Azm Alliance, in addition to Salem al-Issawi, one of the candidates for the presidency of parliament, but without any significant results.[/size]
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