LOC12:05
09:05 GMT
News report by Alaa Al-Huwaijel
BAGHDAD, Dec 28 (KUNA) -- Iraq's new parliament will hold its first session tomorrow, Monday, to begin its sixth term, as lawmakers take the constitutional oath and then elect the speaker and the first and second deputies.
Under Article 54 of the constitution, the first session is chaired by the oldest Member of Parliament (MP) Amer Al-Fayez.
Article 55 requires parliament to elect the speaker and two deputies in that same first session, by secret ballot and an absolute majority.
By longstanding political practice, the speaker is usually Sunni, the first deputy Shia, and the second deputy Kurdish - part of a broader power sharing formula that later leads to electing a Kurdish president and naming a Shia prime minister.
Despite the constitutional deadline, Sunni blocs that joined the National Political Council have not announced an agreed candidate for speaker.
The council holds more than 65 seats, including 33 for Taqaddum led by former Speaker Mohammad Al-Halbousi, Azm Alliance Leader Muthanna Al-Samarrai, Al-Siyada Alliance spearheaded by Khamis Al-Khanjar, National Resolve led by Defense Minister Thabet Al-Abbasi, and Al-Jamahir headed by Ahmad Al-Jubouri.
Selecting a speaker also requires acceptance from Shia and Kurdish forces, because agreement on the three top posts - parliament speaker, president, and prime minister - usually comes as a package deal tied to forming the new government and distributing ministries.
In past terms, the parliament often failed to elect a speaker in the first session and kept the session "open" for days, delaying the constitutional timeline for forming a government within four months of election results.
Meanwhile, Supreme Judicial Council President, Judge Faiq Zaidan warned that past delays in filling the three top posts repeatedly exceeded constitutional deadlines, calling this a clear violation.
He urged Al-Fayez to apply the constitution as written and avoid unfounded interpretations, underlining that not electing the speaker and deputies in the first session would be an explicit breach that could trigger further delays.
The constitution sets a tight schedule: the president must call the first parliamentary session within 15 days of approving election results; parliament then elects its speaker in the first session, elects a president within 30 days, appoints a prime minister-designate within 15 days, and approves the cabinet within 30 days. (end)
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