Iraq’s parliament delays speaker election

Baghdad – Iraq’s parliament postponed until further notice its planned vote for a new speaker on Wednesday, local media reported, with MPs focused on local elections.

The previous speaker, influential Sunni politician Mohamed Al-Halbousi, was dismissed last month after accusations of forgery in an arcane dispute with another member of parliament.

Official news agency INA reported that lawmakers were too busy with provincial elections due next Monday, and canceled the vote on a new speaker. Iraq, a mosaic of different ethnic and religious groups, is governed by complex power-sharing arrangements.

The largely ceremonial role of president traditionally goes to a Kurd, that of prime minister to a Shiite, while the speaker of parliament is usually Sunni.

But parliament is dominated by a coalition of pro-Iran Shiite parties, reflecting the country’s largest religious group.

Elections and appointments to the highest posts are often arduous affairs that can last months, punctuated by interminable negotiations and fiercely debated agreements.

On Monday, Iraq will hold elections for 15 of 18 provincial councils (the three in autonomous Kurdistan operate separately), the first in a decade. Regional governments control budgets for health, transport, education and infrastructure projects in the oil-rich nation.

But they are criticized as hotbeds of corruption, and were dissolved in 2019 after mass protests.