Iraq's parliament convened in Baghdad for the first time in its fifth legislative term, marking significant progress in the formation of a new administration. According to source, 228 MPs from the 329-seat Assembly attended the session, which was held on Sunday afternoon under the chairmanship of Khalid al-Darraji.
Parliament re-elected Mohammed al-Halbousi as Speaker during the session. Al-Halbousi received an overwhelming majority of 200 votes, while former Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani received only 14, with the remaining ballots being declared illegal.
According to the Iraqi Constitution, the Speaker of the Council of Representatives, or Parliament, must be elected by an absolute majority of the total number of legislators, as well as his first and second deputy. The first deputy must be from the Shia community, and the second from the Kurdish minority, according to Iraq's power-sharing system. Within 30 days of the first session, Parliament shall pick a new Iraqi president from among the candidates with a two-thirds majority of its members.
The President should be reserved for the Kurds, the Speaker for the Sunnis, and the Prime Minister for the Shias, according to the power-sharing arrangement. In order to create a government within 30 days, the new president will ask the largest parliamentary alliance to appoint a prime minister-designate.
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