Heads of parliamentary blocs meet in Baghdad

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Sadrist lawmaker, Bahaa al-Aaraji, said on Monday that a meeting of heads of the parliamentary blocs was held on Thursday in Baghdad to discuss the crisis of selecting the new speaker of the parliament to succeed Mahmoud al-Mashhadani. “The meeting, which was held at the parliament in Baghdad, tackled the crisis of the parliament’s speaker,” al-Aaraji told IraqiNews.com news agency. The Iraqi Parliament is still without a speaker since former speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani’s resignation was accepted in an extraordinary session held on December 23, 2008 after a squabble between him and members from the security & defense and legal committees and some words he said which were considered “insulting.” SH (P)/SR 1