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Iraqi Parliament Elects Speaker in Effort to Form New Government
By SUADAD AL-SALHY and ALISSA J. RUBINJULY 15, 2014
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi Parliament elected a new speaker on Tuesday, achieving a political breakthrough that could ultimately lead to the formation of a new government.
The move came as the Iraqi Army launched a major air assault on Tikrit on Tuesday in an effort to flush out the remaining Sunni militants in that city, which lies 95 miles north of Baghdad.
In the vote, the lawmakers elected Salim al-Jubouri, a member of the main Sunni bloc in Parliament, with 194 of the 277 legislators supporting his candidacy. Considering the difficulties in reaching this point, lawmakers expressed relief that a political stalemate seemed to be ending as the government sought to reverse military gains by Sunni militants.
“We have made a great achievement, this is a big progress,” said Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a Shiite lawmaker allied with the Supreme Islamic Council party.
Usama al-Nujaifi, the former speaker of Iraq’s Parliament, spoke on Sunday in Baghdad about the delay to name a new speaker.
Abbas al-Bayati, a lawmaker from the bloc led by Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, sounded similarly pleased with how quickly things were moving. “We shortened the time compared to the last time — this is evidence that Iraqi democracy is on the right track,” he said.
“All this took place according to the agreement, all of which means national unity just shot up,” Mr. Bayati added.
The effort to elect a speaker came after the United Nations warned of “chaos” if lawmakers failed to start the process of forming a government.
By custom, a Sunni holds the position of speaker in the Parliament, a Kurd holds the position of president of Iraq and a Shiite holds the post of prime minister.
Mr. Jubouri is often described as being more moderate than his predecessor, Osama al-Nujaifi.
The Parliament had been scheduled to meet on Sunday to choose a speaker but adjourned amid disputes between Sunnis and Shiites and because a sandstorm prevented many Kurdish lawmakers from reaching Baghdad because their plane could not land.
Under the Constitution, the election of a speaker starts the clock for the selection of other posts. Once the speaker is chosen, he has two weeks to name a president, which is done in consultation with other lawmakers. Within four weeks, the president then nominates a prime minister from one of the largest blocs. The prime minister then has a month to form a government.
The complete process of filling all the posts and forming a government can therefore take as long as eight weeks, but it can also be sped up. International diplomats, along with the highest Shiite religious authorities in Iraq, including the five most senior ayatollahs, have urged Iraqi politicians to move as quickly as possible.
It was unclear whether there was a deal to move to the next step — the selection of a candidate for president — but it appeared that lawmakers on Tuesday would also try to elect the speaker’s two deputies: Haider al-Abadi, a member of Mr. Maliki’s State of Law Coalition; and Aram al-Sheikh Mohammed, a Kurd.
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By SUADAD AL-SALHY and ALISSA J. RUBINJULY 15, 2014
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi Parliament elected a new speaker on Tuesday, achieving a political breakthrough that could ultimately lead to the formation of a new government.
The move came as the Iraqi Army launched a major air assault on Tikrit on Tuesday in an effort to flush out the remaining Sunni militants in that city, which lies 95 miles north of Baghdad.
In the vote, the lawmakers elected Salim al-Jubouri, a member of the main Sunni bloc in Parliament, with 194 of the 277 legislators supporting his candidacy. Considering the difficulties in reaching this point, lawmakers expressed relief that a political stalemate seemed to be ending as the government sought to reverse military gains by Sunni militants.
“We have made a great achievement, this is a big progress,” said Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum, a Shiite lawmaker allied with the Supreme Islamic Council party.
Usama al-Nujaifi, the former speaker of Iraq’s Parliament, spoke on Sunday in Baghdad about the delay to name a new speaker.
Abbas al-Bayati, a lawmaker from the bloc led by Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, sounded similarly pleased with how quickly things were moving. “We shortened the time compared to the last time — this is evidence that Iraqi democracy is on the right track,” he said.
“All this took place according to the agreement, all of which means national unity just shot up,” Mr. Bayati added.
The effort to elect a speaker came after the United Nations warned of “chaos” if lawmakers failed to start the process of forming a government.
By custom, a Sunni holds the position of speaker in the Parliament, a Kurd holds the position of president of Iraq and a Shiite holds the post of prime minister.
Mr. Jubouri is often described as being more moderate than his predecessor, Osama al-Nujaifi.
The Parliament had been scheduled to meet on Sunday to choose a speaker but adjourned amid disputes between Sunnis and Shiites and because a sandstorm prevented many Kurdish lawmakers from reaching Baghdad because their plane could not land.
Under the Constitution, the election of a speaker starts the clock for the selection of other posts. Once the speaker is chosen, he has two weeks to name a president, which is done in consultation with other lawmakers. Within four weeks, the president then nominates a prime minister from one of the largest blocs. The prime minister then has a month to form a government.
The complete process of filling all the posts and forming a government can therefore take as long as eight weeks, but it can also be sped up. International diplomats, along with the highest Shiite religious authorities in Iraq, including the five most senior ayatollahs, have urged Iraqi politicians to move as quickly as possible.
It was unclear whether there was a deal to move to the next step — the selection of a candidate for president — but it appeared that lawmakers on Tuesday would also try to elect the speaker’s two deputies: Haider al-Abadi, a member of Mr. Maliki’s State of Law Coalition; and Aram al-Sheikh Mohammed, a Kurd.
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