Ammar al-Hakim meets parliament’s first speaker

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The chairman of the Shahid al-Mihrab Foundation, Ammar al-Hakeem, discussed with the parliament’s first Speaker Sheikh Khaled al-Attiya and MP from the United Iraqi Alliance, Hassan al-Sanied, electing the parliament’s speaker. “Al-Hakim on Wednesday night (Feb. 11) in Baghdad al-Attiya and al-Sanied and discussed with them the latest political developments in Iraq,” said a statement released on the official website of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) received by IraqiNews.com news agency. The statement quoted Sheikh al-Attiya as saying that “the visit aims to discuss the challenges facing the Iraqi government, including electing the new speaker of the parliament.” Five candidates are vying over the speaker post: Iyad al-Samarraie of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), independent lawmaker Wathab al-Dulaimi, Iraqi National Dialogue Council (INDC) Khalil Jaddou, Abad Motlak al-Juburi of the Independent Arab Bloc and independent legislator Hussein al-Falluji. 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 of the security & defense and legal committees and some words he said which were considered “insulting.” SH (S)/SR 1