Members of Iraq’s National Political Council, known as the Sunni Framework, meet in Baghdad to discuss the nomination of a parliament speaker, talks that ended without agreement and were deferred to a later date.
Sunni parties fails again to agree on speaker nominee
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s National Political Council, known as the Sunni Framework, failed on Tuesday to agree on a nominee for parliament speaker, extending internal talks to a future meeting without setting a date.
“Despite the positive atmosphere that prevailed at the meeting, the National Political Council did not reach an agreement on the candidate for the speakership of parliament,” the council said in a statement issued after the talks.
The council said it would continue discussions and take a decision at its next meeting.
According to the statement, the council met Tuesday evening in Baghdad at the headquarters of Ahmed al-Jubouri, head of the National Masses Party, with the participation of leaders of the parties and alliances that make up the council.
The meeting featured “in-depth dialogue” and the presentation of “a number of appropriate mechanisms” aimed at resolving the speaker choice, the statement said. Members agreed to study those options over the coming days and decide at the next meeting.
The National Political Council was announced Nov. 23 in Baghdad as a unified Sunni bloc bringing together Taqaddum, Azm, the Sovereignty Alliance, the National Hasm Alliance and the Jamaheer Party. The blocs won a combined 59 seats in the Nov. 11 elections.
The delay follows a similar outcome on Sunday, when the Sunni Framework said it had postponed naming a nominee until a Tuesday meeting.
The talks come ahead of the first session of the newly elected Council of Representatives, scheduled for Dec. 29 after President Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid issued a decree on Dec. 16 calling parliament to convene following the Federal Supreme Court’s ratification of the election results.
Under Iraq’s post-2003 power-sharing convention, the speaker is typically a Sunni politician, while the prime minister is Shiite and the president is Kurdish. The Supreme Judicial Council has said the constitutional timeline began Dec. 14, requiring parliament to elect a speaker and two deputies within 15 days.